Become vs. Turn

'Become' and 'turn' are both linking verbs with a similar meaning but they are used in different contexts. Follow the lesson to find out more about them.

What is the difference between 'become' and 'turn'?

'Become' and 'turn' are both linking verbs. 'Become' means to start to have a particular quality while 'turn' involves a change into a new state or condition. There is also a subtle grammatical difference between the two verbs that we are going to discuss below.

Context of Use

'Become' means 'to start to be something' or 'start to develop into something'. It highlights the end result or the new state that the subject attains. 'Turn' involves a change in state or condition, often involving a transformation of appearance or character, such as a change in color, weather, or people's behavior. For example:

It became clear that it wall all his fault.

She became a successful entrepreneur.

She turned pale after hearing the news.

The weather turned cold.

Grammatical Structure

While both 'become' and 'turn' are linking verbs. However, 'turn' can only take adjectives as the complement, while 'become' can be followed by both an adjective and a noun or noun phrase. If 'turn' is followed by a noun, it needs the preposition 'into' to connect to the noun, in which case it is no longer a linking verb and changes into a transitive verb. Take a look at the examples:

The weather has become unbearable during the heat wave.

'become' with an adjective complement

The weather turned cold in November.

The caterpillar became a butterfly.

'become' with a noun complement

The caterpillar turned into a butterfly.

You can't say 'the caterpillar turned butterfly'

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