Turn out

"He turned out an excellent actor
He turned out to be an excellent actor

Are both the sentences correct or only the first one?
Thanks"


That depends on your meaning. If you mean that the person unexpectedly became an excellent actor, than the second one is correct. The first sentence would mean that someone produced and excellent actor...someone like an acting c

Cacarr is correct that your first sentence can be read in that way. But it can equally carry a meaning identical to your second sentence. Elision of 'be' is common in this formation, Mav:

He seems (to be) a genial person.
The audience appeared (to be) displeased with the performance.
The men looked (to be) disgruntled.

It initialy seemed to me that elision of "be" selected the meaning "produce" (this phrasal verb has multiple meanings) as opposed to "unexpectedly become." Now, however, I can see how it doesn't have to. I would guess that most Americans would read the first "turn out" as "produce," particularly if comparing one to the other.

If 'turn out something' = 'to produce smth', what is to 'turn out someone'? I looks like a senseless sentence. Can it mean 'to train' in the case of actor?

Cacarr wrote:

If you mean that the person unexpectedly became an excellent actor, than the second one is correct

Here is definition by Oxford:

to be known or discovered fi

It depends on what is turning out, Mav-- some are surprising and others are not so surprising:

'My son spent five years in medical school and has turned out to be an outstanding physician' -- not too surprising, eh?

'My son spent five years and medical school and turned out to be a veterinarian' -- a bit more surprise here.

Nevertheless, 'turned out to be' tends to ex

Thanks for the definition,MM. The ones we really needed were #4 and #6. Now I think I get it.