Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

I saw different sentences about the phrase "turn to" with different usage.

The first one is :
The children all turned _________ the film star when he entered the room.
A. to looking at B. to look at

the answer is B

The second one is:
I turned to ______ bags, but I couldn�t concentrate. I could not stop thinking about the little old man who could not, or would not, spend three dollars on a dessert.
A. stamp B. stamping

The answer is B.

So what should be followed after turn to? Is gerund or infinitive?

In other words, should we say "turn to doing" or "turn to do" ?

Thanks

[devinvancouver]

It can be either one, depending on the context.

In the first case, the children turning to look at the film star is a single event that happens in the past tense.

In the second case, 'I turned to stamping bags' refers to a change of direction the speaker took. Stamping bags is an action he began, and then he continued doing it.

Hmm, that doesn't seem very clear, but I'm finding it hard to explain why they're both correct. Hopefully that helps a bit. Let me know if you need more clarification.
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