prepositionsword-choice
Regarding the sentence
She kept walking about the room.
Is that ok to use "in" instead, as in
She kept walking in the room
Why is "about" used in this sentence?
Is there any difference to between "about" and "in"?
(The above question was asked to me)
No, using would not fit.
This is the noun use (pronounced with an /s/ sound, not a /z/). That has one meaning which is something like the act of using, but here it has another meaning which is approximately usefulness.
In fact, of use is an idiom which means the same as useful.
So if you saw
Use of this equipment is prohibited.
that would be the first meaning, and so Using this equipment would be equally good.
But in phrases such as of use, any use, no use, it always has the second meaning: you could substitute usefulness, but not using.
No! Read this.
We don't use a preposition with these words:
and with words today, tomorrow, yesterday!
Consider the usage of "in" vs "at" with the word "theater":
In the theater here refers to the building (the theater itself). In British English, At the theater means attending a performance. However, both prepositional forms, at and in are regularly found, but in is more common with the generic term theater and at with a specific theater name.
Best Answer
The definition of "about" is
While "in" is
So, here, "about" is more specific. "She kept walking about the room." brings up a mental image of a woman pacing around a room. "She kept walking in the room" brings up a mental image of a woman walking in a straight line in a room (to me at least) Aside from this, "she kept walking in the room" has another meaning-- "she kept entering the room", which is a completely different situation.