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She was relieved to find no one there [in a church], because she hadn't formulated a coherent story as to why she was.
From: Still Alice
Words in bold are odd to me. What does as to mean here? Why is it why she was but not why she was there? Please elaborate it. Thank you.
She was relieved to find no one there [in a church], because she hadn't formulated a coherent story as to why she was [there].
This is an example of not having to repeat an entire verb phrase in English. The idea is implied in the verb to be or for non-to be verbs by the helping verb. In the case of BE + at some place, the verb /was/ is used for /was there/
"He loved playing tennis but he didn't know if she did." did= [if she loved playing tennis] = an example not using the verb /to be/
"She was spending a lot of time studying but didn't think her boyfriend was". WAS=spending a lot of time studying.
"They'd been having fun for weeks but thought their friends weren't. weren't=weren't having fun
This is an important aspect of English to master if you want to speak it at a high level of competence.
as to means concerning or regarding.
