to take turns
57
1.8
- phrasal verb
- /teɪk tɜrnz/
:
turnarse
- Then, each person says one syllable of a phrase, taking turns around the circle.
- students take turns
- take turns reading
- take turns speaking
You display, I display, we take turns, we figure out who's better.
- You display, I display, we take turns, we figure out who's better.
- They're collated and distributed amongst the team and then you come together as a group and you take turns reading them.
- So whether the whales take turns when they speak or whether they simultaneously talk and listen.
- Now with that backdrop, I want to turn to the panellists and let's start with three questions which we'll take in turn.
- All three because we take turns like when taking turns now.
- But when Obviously you and Ashley took turns, he was going home.
- And so take turns means you take your turn and you set up the space that they're going to make theirs.
Examples
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The point is we're supposed to be taking turns.
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Everyone arrives home from school, and Leah and Sarah take turns answering and making calls.
Fiction book (1995) -
We'll all take turns keeping watch all night.
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We need to take it in turns and stay and watch him.
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We take it in turns.
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We take turns wearing it.
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We take turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week.
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The ground rules included taking turns, listening with respect, and responding appropriately.
Academic text (2014) -
During this activity, participants took turns across three roles: SLP, parent, and observer.
Academic text (2015) -
During the game, we will take turns throwing the frisbee to each other.
Synonyms
60
2.3
To take turns regularly doing a job or duty
59
3.3
To take turns doing something
26
6.3
Take someone's place for a short time at work
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
take + turn
The meaning 'to do something one after another' is directly compositionally derived from 'take' (to occupy or accept) + 'turn(s)' (an occasion to act): you 'take turns' by each person taking a turn in sequence. This verb + noun collocation follows a common, transparent pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Take turns comes from the simple image of people take turns, like players passing a ball or moving around a board. So it means 'to do something one after another'.