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  1. He decides to take revenge on her.

  2. He decides to take revenge of her.

  3. He decides to take revenge from her.

Which preposition should I use in this example?

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3 Answers 3

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The correct choice is the first one:

"He decides to take revenge on her."

The others sound strange and incorrect.

I don't think there is any rule involved here except that prepositions are closely tied to verbs in phrases with specific meanings. You can't change the preposition without changing the meaning of the phrase. The other two phrases have no recognized meaning:

"take revenge of someone"

"take revenge from someone"

Even the synonym "vengeance" uses the same preposition. You would also say

"take vengeance on someone"

However, there's a phrase using "revenge" with "for" that means something different:

"take revenge for something" or "take revenge on someone for something"

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    Or take/seek/get revenge for a wrong done. Commented May 8, 2018 at 19:11
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You might also use the term "take revenge against" which has an emotional tone that makes it more emphatic.

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  • Unless it is clear from the context, doesn't "taking revenge against someone/something implicitly require some level of specificity via a prepositional for to clarify what the grievance is or why the action is being taken so emphatically?

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