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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Glanced about her...

I've read a sentence like this - Mary glanced warily about her, finding the notion a little disturbing.

What does "glanced warily about her" here mean? From the paragraph, I noticed there are only two people in the room, one man, one woman (Mary). And if "her" is not a typo, then how does she glances about her (or herself)? I've checked a few dictionary and found no desirable explanations. What confuses me here is the object "her". Does that sentence say "Mary was looking around warily"?

Anyone knows how this sort of sentence structure works?

Thank you very much
  

Top answer

Anonymous Does that sentence say "Mary was looking around warily"? Yes, "about" is similar to "around" in this case. )

— GPY

  • Anonymous Does that sentence say "Mary was looking around warily"?
  • Yes, "about" is similar to "around" in this case.
  • )
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3 Answers
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AnonymousDoes that sentence say "Mary was looking around warily"?
Yes, "about" is similar to "around" in this case. (Preposition sense 2a/2b at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/about : "in the immediate neighborhood of", "on or near the person of".)
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Anonymousshe glances about her (or herself)
You don't need the reflexive ('herself' in this case) in many cases where the pronoun object of a preposition serves as a reference location (rather than as an agent).

She heard a noise behind her.
He pulled the basket toward him.
She always carried some money with her.

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Thank you, that's helpful
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