What does「と」mean in「どうしたものかと、あたりを見回しました」?
I am reading sentence: 「女の子は、どうしたものかと、あたりを見回しました」

I know「どうしたものか」means “what to do?”
And I know 「あたりを見回しました」 means “looked around nearby”

I understand the meaning as “she looked around nearby for what to do” , but I don’t understand with certainty what 「と」is doing, what sort of connection it has. Can it be used like “for”?

Any help would be appreciated!

Question

What does「と」mean in「どうしたものかと、あたりを見回しました」?
I am reading sentence: 「女の子は、どうしたものかと、あたりを見回しました」

I know「どうしたものか」means “what to do?” 
And I know 「あたりを見回しました」 means “looked around nearby”

I understand the meaning as “she looked around nearby for what to do” , but I don’t understand with certainty what 「と」is doing, what sort of connection it has. Can it be used like “for”?

Any help would be appreciated!

Answer

女の子は、どうしたものかと、あたりを見回しました
means 
that the girl wondered/ was couscous about how it was going, and looked around.
と means "and" or "because".
It can be also said 
  that the girl looked around, because  she wondered/ was couscous about how it was going .

Answer

See と in Wiktionary.
The と is kakujyoshu that works to mean 5. 思考内容や発言内容を表す。と思って。と言って。
「どうしたものか」is the detail the girl thought. She thought so, and thus she あたりを見回した.

Answer

Hi Ryan!
「と」is one of conjunctions. 
In this case, we need 「と」between something and Verb (not always verb)

For example:

・わたしは「はい」と答えた。
(I replied “yes”)

・この症状はただの風邪だと考えられます
(This symptoms is considered as a cold.)

・おいしいと評判の店
(The shop popular as delicious)

I can’t teach you Japanese perfectly. I’m just a Japanese who study English.I hope you can get it anyway!

Answers · 4

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