what  I  posted  in the  language  forum  appears  bellow  this message, if you  want to see the discussion in the  forum use  this link:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?p=9659963#post9659963

Kind regards

Marco Uscanga

One of the meanings of the phrasal verb TURN BACK is
” to fold a part of something so that it covers another part” according to http://www.carolinebrownenglishlesso…sals1/menu.php
the same meaning is also defined as “To fold down” according to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/turn+back

Examples of this phrasal when takes this meaning are the following according with these references:

She marked her place in the book by turning back the page.
When we arrived in the room, the maid had turned back the bedcovers.
Turn back the page’s corner to save your place in the book

I want you to explain me the meanings of fold apart and fold down to understand turn back in the aforementioned sentences

Thanks for your help and attentions

Hi there,

Well I speak British English but my exercises are used quite a lot to teach native American speakers of English in junior schools in the US. Usually several teachers write to me if the expression is not used in US English and I add a note to this effect to my explanation.

However, in this case, I’ve just checked with the major US dictionary, Webster’s, and the same definition is given as I gave.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/turn%20back

I checked out the thread and somebody posted, quite correctly, that in certain posh hotels a maid comes in the evening to ‘turn back the sheets’.  That seems such a clear illustration of the meaning that I am surprised that you are looking for further clarification.

As for the person who doesn’t ‘trust Caroline Brown’, all I can say is that that type of forum is full of arrogant people who think that ‘correct English’ is what they themselves speak and that ‘incorrect English’  is things that they do not say. In the last twenty years, we have made significant progress in linguistics because of our new ability to analyse huge quantities of written and spoken language thanks to computers. The days of introspection are long over, we now have mass data.

If you want real examples of a phrase in action, you should consult a concordancer, not the opinions of unknown individuals on forums. I looked at a Canadian concordancer examining the Brown (US) database and got

001.   gaze at her through the window. She had begun to TURN BACK toward the house, but his look caught he
002.  nd’s exhaust overhead. Sometimes the pilot had to TURN BACK if fully blocked by fog, but 85% of his
003.  lls on the Lincoln bed. At night, when Mama would TURN BACK the covers, she would have to take all t

As you can see, the third example corresponds exactly to our definition.

That was using

http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html

You could also use

http://www.edict.com.hk/concordance/

The general rule is to observe what happens rather than to rely upon individuals who are only ‘expert’ in the version of English they themselves speak

Pearson Brown

‘to pull out’ means to extract something.

* It was very painful. The dentist pulled out two of my teeth.
* Somebody had pulled some pages out of the book.

‘to pull out of’ means decide not to continue with an activity or agreement.

* We signed a contract. We can’t pull out of the deal.
* They pulled out of the negotiations after only two hours.

‘to pull out’ is used when a vehicle driven out of a place into the road.

* I didn’t see the man on the bicycle as I was pulling out of the car park.
* The car pulled out in front of the bus.

‘to pull over’ means to drive a car to the side of the road.

* The car was making a strange noise so I pulled over to have a look at it.
* I pulled over to ask someone the way.

‘to pull through’ means recover after a serious illness.

* The doctor came to tell me that John would pull through.
* Nobody thought he’d pull through after the accident.

‘to pull yourself together’ means to regain control of your emotions.

* Stop crying. It’s time to pull yourself together.
* He took a long time to pull himself together.

‘to pull together’ means to cooperate and work as a group to achieve something.

* We can do this, if we all pull together.
* We have to pull together during difficult times.

‘to pull up’ is used when a car slows down and stops.

* It started to rain just as we pulled up in front of the restaurant.
* A taxi pulled up just as I came out of the airport.

‘to pull up’ a chair means you move it in order to sit down.

* Come and join us. Pull up a chair.
* He pulled up a chair and sat down.

‘to pull up’ also means to criticise someone when they make a mistake.

* If you make a mistake, they will pull you up on it every time.
* He’s always pulling me up on my grammar.

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