Take care of vs. Take care with

[jupiter]

Hello teachers,

Take care of the weak forms.
Take care with the weak forms.

Is there any subtle difference?

Thanks in advance

Jupiter

[Mister Micawber]

.
Rather a large difference, to my mind:

Take care of -- attend to or provide for the needs, operation, or treatment of

Take care with -- be careful or watchful; exercise caution or prudence.
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[Tamara]

[Yankee]

Hi Tamara

Since I think "throw caution to the wind" would be a more typical expression, I researched that a bit:

Google search results:

throw caution to the wind 234,000
threw caution to the wind 72,000

throw caution to the winds 25,100
threw caution to the winds 10,300

bnc: "to the wind"
http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/saraWeb?qy=to+the+wind

bnc: "to the winds"
http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/saraWeb?qy=to+the+winds

Both singular and plural are used, but wind is apparently more commonly used.

Amy
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Tamara]