Turn off means to switch off a light, the TV, the water or the heating, or to leave one road for another: turn off the motorway. When the thing you switch off is a pronoun, it goes in the middle: turn it off.
Want to use turn off in conversation?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
turn off + light/TV/tap; turn + it/them + off; turn off + road/motorway
- Please turn off your phones before the exam starts.
- Don't forget to turn the heating off when you leave the office.
- Turn off the motorway at the next exit and follow the signs to the hotel.
What changed
First versionDon't forget to close the tap when you finish washing up.
RevisionDon't forget to turn off the tap when you finish washing up.
“Close the tap” may sound logical, but in English water, gas and heating are switched off with the same verb as lights: turn off the tap. Keep “close” for doors, windows or shops.
“Turn off” switches something off completely, while “turn down” only makes it lower: the volume, the heating, the brightness. If music gets in the way of a conversation, you turn it down; if nobody needs it at all, you turn it off: Turn the radio off, nobody's listening.
Your turn
These notifications keep distracting me, so I'm going to ___.
Show the answer
turn them off — “Them” replaces a noun, so it goes between “turn” and “off”: “turn them off”. The order “turn off” + object only works with a noun: turn off the notifications.
Describe what you check before leaving home for a few days. Name at least two things you turn off.
Before I leave home for a few days, I always turn off the gas and the water heater.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.