To grow on one

Status
Not open for further replies.

Johnyxxx

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Czech
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Hello.

Can anybody tell me if the bold text means “Todd had a tendency to take possession of one in an unpleasant way“ or “Todd had a tendency to affect one in an unpleasant way?“

The story is about a guy who comes to stay in a hotel in a small village to recover his nerves (he is a neurotic) in which he succedes in a way but after several days a strange discomfort and distress are upon him and these feelings get stronger.

Those who have been to Todd remember it as a quiet, secretive watering−place, couched watchfully in a fold of a long range of low hills along the Norfolk coast. It has been pronounced "restful" by those in high authority, for time there has a way of passing dreamily as if the days, too, were being blown past like the lazy clouds on the wings of wandering breezes. At the back, the look of the land is somehow strangely forbidding, and it is wiser to keep to the shore and the more neighbouring villages. Salterton, for instance, has been found quite safe and normal.
There are long stretches of sand dunes to the west, and by their side a nine−hole golf−course.
Here, at the time of Brent's visit, stood an old and crumbling tower, an enigmatic structure which he found interesting from its sheer futility. Behind it an inexplicable road seemed to lead with great decision most uncomfortably to nowhere. . . . Todd, he thought, was in many ways a nice spot, but he detected in it a tendency to grow on one unpleasantly.

John Metcalfe, The Bad Lands, 1927.


Thank you.
 
Yes, both of those.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ask a Teacher

If you have a question about the English language and would like to ask one of our many English teachers and language experts, please click the button below to let us know:

(Requires Registration)
Back
Top