hello torsten we’re almost chatting on line, I thought I new how to use turn in all the forms but it TURNs out to be a little bit more complex from what I thought.
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‘Turn you hand to’ is not something you are likely to hear in the US, in my opinion.
‘Turn your hand to’ may well be an idiom that is primarily (or only) used in British English.
In addition, none of the other options would form a meaningful idiomatic expression in the context of sentence.
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Would you be willing to provide any first-hand input about how frequently you hear people use ‘turn your hand to’ in your part of the UK? I mean, would you say the usage is extremely common? Fairly common? Relatively rare? (Something else?)
How about register? Formal? Informal? Both? (Something else?)
I find that sort of question very difficult to answer. Off the top of my head I would say it was quite common and wouldn’t upset anyone’s maiden aunt if she heard it. It crops up in situations where someone is commenting on another’s versatility: Oh, he/she turns his/her hand to anything. Well, you have to nowadays, don’t you? Perhaps older about younger.
I don’t find this example entirely idiomatic; in BrE, I would expect to hear “turn your hand to” in the context of a (usually new) skill, and especially in conjunction with “could”, “can”, “able to”.
Thus:
…he was generally well educated, and could draw out his own designs and work at the lathe; he had a knowledge of mill machinery, pumps, and cranes, and could turn his hand to the bench or the forge with equal adroitness and facility (Smiles)
He was, like Turner, ready to turn his hand to any kind of work, and in 1840, when a mere youth, we find him engaged, among his other labours, in illustrating the 'Renfrewshire Annual (Smiles)
He thought that perhaps he might turn his hand to a little useful gardening—parsnips instead of roses—while Imogene would be at work in the nursery (Trollope)
He was a ragged, roving, roaring kind of fellow, with a burly form, a sharp wit, and a ready head, and could turn his hand to anything when he chose to do it. (Dickens)
Is a slater by trade. Been out of work some time; younger men naturally get the work. Gets a bit of bricklaying sometimes; can turn his hand to anything. (Booth)
So at last he gave in, and he made me a solemn promise that he would see Sparrow MacCoy no more, that he would go to Europe, and that he would turn his hand to any honest trade that I helped him to get. (Conan Doyle)
I don’t think preparing combinations of breakfast foodstuffs would justify “turn one’s hand to”. The phrase generally implies an activity that is surprising or special in some way. Thus if you said e.g.
He could turn his hand to anything – serving cornflakes, pouring out orange juice, boiling an egg, etc.
it would sound ironic.
But if you said:
He could turn his hand to anything – champagne truffles, waffles and fried chicken, Spanish omelette, kedgeree.
I have no wish to get involved in one of your nitpicking discussions (but then I suppose I’m doing that right now) old chap, but it is the task that the hand is being turned to and by implication from the rest of the text in the test it is being a waiter serving breakfast that is the task. And to my simple mind it’s either idiomatic or it ain’t idiomatic. I’ve said enough.
