glance/glimpse

I sometimes see authors using “glimpsed” when what they mean is “glanced”. You glimpse something (see it for a moment); you glance at something (look at it briefly or indirectly).

I’ve also seen sentences like “She glimpsed over her shoulder“; that should be “glanced,” because “glimpsed” needs an object: “She glimpsed him over her shoulder.”

Leave a Reply

Subscribe without commenting