<p>Yes, as you suspected, the structure “一面....一面...” is in play, and the snippet should be understood as “她 一面 走着，<strong>一面 向</strong>旁边 张望着。”</p>
<p>The structure “一面...一面...” is used to associate two verbs when the subject performs them at the same time, in this sense it is the same as the structure “一边...一边...”：</p>
<blockquote>
<p>她<strong>一面</strong>走着，<strong>一面</strong>向旁边张望着。</p>
<p>她<strong>一边</strong>走着，<strong>一边</strong>向旁边张望着。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These two sentences both express:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She looks around <strong>while</strong> walking.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-09T04:35:38.687Z
2018-08-09T04:35:38.687Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
user202409
<p>According to <a href="https://www.amazon.cn/dp/B001198GSW" rel="nofollow noreferrer">现代汉语八百词</a>, <code>一面……一面……</code> is used to indicate two or more actions are performed simultaneously. They are used before a verb. The first <code>一面</code> can sometimes be omitted.</p>

<p>Breaking it down from your sentence, you'll get:</p>

<p><code>她一面[Adv.] 走着[V]，一面[Adv.] 向旁边[Adv.] 张望着[V]</code></p>

<p>which means "As she walked, she looked sideways" (the same as you translated). Other examples:</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol>
  <li>他们<strong>一面</strong>走，<strong>一面</strong>挥舞花环，<strong>一面</strong>欢呼。</li>
  <li>他（<strong>一面</strong>）用心地听着，<strong>一面</strong>记着笔记。</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>There's a side note, though. <code>一面……一面……</code> could also mean <code>一方面……一方面……</code>, which means "on one side ..., on the other side ...". Usually <code>另</code> is added on the second <code>一面</code> on this construction, e.g:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>说明书土<strong>一面</strong>印的是中文，<strong>另一面</strong>印的是英文</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-09T04:28:05.273Z
2018-08-09T04:28:05.273Z
Reynaldi
<p>This is from the children's book 七色花:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/tusXEm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/tusXEm.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>她一面走着，一面向旁边张望着，念着招牌上的字，...<br />
As she walked, she looked sideways and read the words on the signboard ... [<a href="https://translate.google.cn/#zh-CN/en/%E5%A5%B9%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2%E8%B5%B0%E7%9D%80%EF%BC%8C%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2%E5%90%91%E6%97%81%E8%BE%B9%E5%BC%A0%E6%9C%9B%E7%9D%80%EF%BC%8C%E5%BF%B5%E7%9D%80%E6%8B%9B%E7%89%8C%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E5%AD%97%EF%BC%8C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google Translate</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm wondering how 一面向 breaks down.  I'm confused because there's multiple possibilities:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://youdao.com/w/eng/%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">一面</a> (yī miàn) = &quot;one side&quot;</li>
<li><a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E9%9D%A2%E5%90%91/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">面向</a> (miàn xiàng) = &quot;face&quot; (in the sense of facing a certain direction)</li>
<li><a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%90%91%E6%97%81%E8%BE%B9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">向旁边</a> (xiàng pángbiān) = &quot;sideways&quot;, or perhaps &quot;to the side&quot;</li>
</ul>
<p>There also seems to be a grammar structure in play here: 一面[something],一面[something else].</p>
<p><strong>Question</strong>: How does 一面向 break down in this snippet?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-09T03:29:15.140Z
Judging from the structure, it looks similar with the construction of "一边……一边……".
Reynaldi
<grammar><sentence-structure>
How does 一面向 break down in 她一面走着，一面向旁边张望着?
# How does 一面向 break down in 她一面走着，一面向旁边张望着?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-08-09)

This is from the children's book 七色花:

> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/tusXEm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/tusXEm.jpg)
>
> 她一面走着，一面向旁边张望着，念着招牌上的字，...  
> As she walked, she looked sideways and read the words on the signboard ... [[Google Translate](https://translate.google.cn/#zh-CN/en/%E5%A5%B9%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2%E8%B5%B0%E7%9D%80%EF%BC%8C%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2%E5%90%91%E6%97%81%E8%BE%B9%E5%BC%A0%E6%9C%9B%E7%9D%80%EF%BC%8C%E5%BF%B5%E7%9D%80%E6%8B%9B%E7%89%8C%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E5%AD%97%EF%BC%8C)]

I'm wondering how 一面向 breaks down. I'm confused because there's multiple possibilities:

* [一面](http://youdao.com/w/eng/%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2/) (yī miàn) = "one side"
* [面向](http://youdao.com/w/%E9%9D%A2%E5%90%91/) (miàn xiàng) = "face" (in the sense of facing a certain direction)
* [向旁边](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%90%91%E6%97%81%E8%BE%B9) (xiàng pángbiān) = "sideways", or perhaps "to the side"

There also seems to be a grammar structure in play here: 一面[something],一面[something else].

**Question**: How does 一面向 break down in this snippet?

**Tags:** grammar, sentence-structure

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Judging from the structure, it looks similar with the construction of "一边……一边……".  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-08-09. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Yes, as you suspected, the structure “一面....一面...” is in play, and the snippet should be understood as “她 一面 走着，**一面 向**旁边 张望着。”

The structure “一面...一面...” is used to associate two verbs when the subject performs them at the same time, in this sense it is the same as the structure “一边...一边...”：

> 她**一面**走着，**一面**向旁边张望着。
>
> 她**一边**走着，**一边**向旁边张望着。

These two sentences both express:

> She looks around **while** walking.


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-08-09. Score: 1

According to [现代汉语八百词](https://www.amazon.cn/dp/B001198GSW), `一面……一面……` is used to indicate two or more actions are performed simultaneously. They are used before a verb. The first `一面` can sometimes be omitted.

Breaking it down from your sentence, you'll get:

`她一面[Adv.] 走着[V]，一面[Adv.] 向旁边[Adv.] 张望着[V]`

which means "As she walked, she looked sideways" (the same as you translated). Other examples:

> 1. 他们**一面**走，**一面**挥舞花环，**一面**欢呼。
> 2. 他（**一面**）用心地听着，**一面**记着笔记。

There's a side note, though. `一面……一面……` could also mean `一方面……一方面……`, which means "on one side ..., on the other side ...". Usually `另` is added on the second `一面` on this construction, e.g:

> 说明书土**一面**印的是中文，**另一面**印的是英文


---

