take a toll on
…take its cost, affecting/influencing (badly), or something like that…
And whatever I think about ‘take on’ in this case, it’s the standard use.
OK.
toll of: ‘The mental toll of revolution…’
‘…the toll of death and injury on Scotland’s roads.’
I’m aware of the death toll and ‘bridge tool’ meanings of toll. Having checked three dictionaries.
And I understand the case-difference in 'toll of… on’ in the above phrases.
I just don’t have ‘a rule’.
And don’t know, what preposition would be correct, for example, in:
‘rent takes a heavy toll (…of? on? from? :)…) his income.’
?
In this case, one of the “rules” is the combination (collocation) of ‘take’ and ‘a toll’. Saying ‘take a toll on (something)’ is a standard combination.
Saying ‘the toll of’ is like saying ‘the cost of’. The preposition ‘of’ is used to tell you what produced or caused the toll/cost or what sort of a toll it is.
The preposition ‘on’ is used to indicate who/what suffered the toll (i.e. who/what had to pay ‘the price’)
The only tiny problem is to decide whether ‘his income’ from my question sentence suffers (in the above sense). Or not.
Perhaps, not… at least, in English. ‘He’ is who will have to pay.
The second rule (‘produced or caused’) isn’t applicable directly… ‘a toll of rent’, yes…
Hmm.
So, I’ll just use ‘rent takes a heavy toll of his income.’
And let’s see what will happen.
[size=84][color=red](Aaaa-a-a-a-a…. (bitterly crying )
Could anybody recommend to me a language-without-prepositions to learn?)[/size]
It seems, now I’ve caught my trouble.
As I understand, ‘to take a toll’ can be (also) used in the meaning ‘to inflict losses’ or something like that. ?
Not to be abstract… let’s take the (very last ) example – and hopefully I’ll accept your rules.
take a heavy toll of the enemy
or
take a heavy toll on the enemy
?
The first use is the temptation I couldn’t resist
Why can’t we say that (‘toll of the enemy’)?
You need a whole sentence so that the cause of the suffering or loss is clear:
[size=134]The battle took a heavy toll on the enemy.[/size] = The enemy suffered losses which were caused by the battle. = The battle (and the opposing army) inflicted losses on the enemy.
Use ‘take a toll [size=150]on[/size] (someone/something)’ when toll means ‘loss, damage, suffering, etc., resulting from some action or calamity’
take a toll of
The word ‘of’ could possibly be used to describe how much/what size the toll was. For example:
The battle took a toll of huge dimensions. (the loss/damage/suffering/etc. was huge)
If you’re feeling prepositionphobic, how about this bit of logic? A toll is a tax you have to pay. So instead of saying: It’ll take a toll on his health, why not: It’s taxing his health?
Bingo!
Amy, thanks a lot, indeed, for your patience.
And sorry my obstinancy. Sometimes it’s really difficult to accept new ‘rules’.
Alan, yes, your ‘taxing’ has won! Quite often it’s actually the best way for me.
…And if your language had a bit fewer phrasal verbs in use, I’d be also very grateful to it.
Phrasal verbs are a bit of a gimmick in all honesty. They provide loads of stuff for EFL teachers to rabbit on about but they are only poor substitutes for the genuine article. I’m sure Bill Shakespeare would have agreed with me.
Yes guys I totally agree with you. Phrasal Verbs is a bit of a gimmick in all honesty and I need to add that we as EFL when we see/hear phrasal verbs have to think about it clearly and do not ever think in complex way as most of EFL mess up these verbs and don’t concentrate on the context to get the right meanning . I wish I was led to correctness.
Last year one of my tutors told us that when she had been to India, she was forced not to use phrasal verbs at all - to be understood by people who normally speak in English rather ‘conserved’ at the level it was in XIX. They just transfer that state of Engish across the generations (and through official school) - and don’t understand latest ‘gimmicks’.
By the way, there is a special Russian word that covers the direction and people who’re too impressed by Dostoevsky’s philosophy and by his very special type of ‘psychological’ (self-)analysis’.
But I can’t give an equivalent.
I’m not sure I quite agree with you there, Alan. True enough, phrasal verbs can usually be replaced by other verbs, but these are often too formal for casual use. You yourself must think they come in handy, as shown by your use of the phrasal verb ‘rabbit on’, which, I find, is just the right verb to use in your sentence.
