Preposition: of

• coal: The pit yielded 12 tons of water to every ton of coal drawn.

• brick: The nuns would be down on them like a ton of bricks.

• rubble: The site had been leveled with all the demolition rubble plus several tons of rubble found elsewhere on the site.

• explosive: They dropped 3,000 tons of explosives on the city.

Modifies a noun

• steamship: This 1411 ton steamship was wrecked on the 16th April 1874 on her maiden voyage.

• crane: The first set of sidings were sandwiched in-between the level crossing and platform, complete with a five ton crane.

• truck: No amount of psychological or psychic manipulation can undo the over tightened wheel nuts on a 3.5 ton truck!

• lorry: We carry our own custom built sound system in a 7.5 ton lorry, which consist of nearly 20,000 watts of power.

• barge: He proposed a depth of 3 foot for 20 ton barges which would pay a charge of 3 pence a lock.

Adjective modifier

• metric: In July, Taiwan donated 40 metric tons of rice to the people of Tanzania.

• gross: Grace Line built four sisters in 1918, all 360 feet long and around 4800 gross tons.

• m.: Global aid shipments exceeded 10 m. tons in most years under these two Conventions.

Modifies a noun

• burthen: The pier, having been constructed in 1750, vessels of 150 tons burthen may ride here in safety.

Preposition: per

• hectare: The average annual wheat yield of these fields is five metric tons per hectare or higher.

• acre: FACT - Charles Darwin reported that each year earthworms brought more than 10 tons per acre of castings to the surface of a field.