Here's part of my sentence - relishing the fact that he now had complete control, not only of the situation but of this young man... Would it be of the situation - or over the situation or is it a mere preference and either could work?
I would say that either works, but the connotation of control over implies a tighter grip. Being in control of a situation implies readiness to respond to contingencies, where control over a situation implies the ability to drive it toward a particular outcome.
Good! Thanks, this clears things up. I was going yesterdays' chapter, tweaking things and this jumped out. I was hesitant to change it to over but I'm starting to think over might work better.
I think of works, but like Cog said, either could work. I really hate it when things like this come up when I write too, and I have no idea if it can be changed/omitted/etc.
"Control of", I'm thinking puppet on a string with no choice of his own where "Control over" is more like holding a gun to his head and telling him to walk. He don't HAVE to if he don't want to, while the puppet does.
