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I see a sentence:

She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and she was gone.

The unclear part for me is "she was gone". I have two ways to understand this sentence:

  1. She hugged me -> I got on the plane ==> I saw her leaving from the plane window
  2. She hugged me -> she left while I was getting on the plane ==> I couldn't see her anymore from the plane window
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I don't think it means either one; I think it means "she was gone from my life." In other words, I wouldn't be able to see her anymore (because the distance between us would be too great).

If my hunch is right, we could rewrite the sentence like this:

She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and I never saw her again.

Of course, it's hard to say for sure, because you haven't told us where you found this sentence. Quite often, the meaning of a sentence will change when the reader knows more about the surrounding context.

For example, if I gave you this sentence:

It took us two days to climb that mountain.

you probably imagine something like this:

enter image description here

But if I add a little more context:

It was really hard putting our son in rehab. He didn't want to go; he didn't think he had a problem. We spoke to him at length about why he should go, about how he was ruining is life. It wasn't easy, but we finally convinced him. It took us two days to climb that mountain.

Now it's apparent that the sentence has nothing to do with a physical mountain; that the phrase "climb a mountain" is being used as a metaphor, because the word mountain can be used metaphorically to mean problem.

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  • Thanks so much! I didn't realise there is such a deep meaning here. This sentence is from the noval "twilight", in the middle of the "First sight" page: books.google.com/…
    – Freewind
    Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 9:54
  • @Freewind - No problem! Just remember to always include a reference to where you found your sentence when you ask questions in the future :-) More here.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 10:02
  • @JR Thanks, I will do. And, is your answer still correct in the context of the added reference?
    – Freewind
    Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 10:07
  • @Freewind - Well, the reference does clear things up. I imagined "she" referred to a close friend, or perhaps a lover. Now I see that the "she" refers to the narrator's mother, so I don't think it means "Gone from my life." But it could still mean something like "gone out of my mind for awhile." I still don't think it's talking so much about his field of vision; it's more about the mind shift that goes from saying goodbye to loved ones, and then focusing on your trip, your destination, and the purpose behind your travel.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 10:13
  • @JR So if we don't consider any deep meaning in this context, is the my second opinion "I didn't see her from the window after got on the plane" correct?
    – Freewind
    Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 10:32

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