pry about

[ademoglu]

Hi,

http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/pry?q=pry

[intransitive]pry (into something)to try to find out information about other people’s private lives in a way that is annoying or rude

- I'm sick of you prying into my personal life!

I would like to ask whether or not we can use 'about' instead of 'into' after the word 'pry.'

Thanks.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

No, you can't.

If you look at the origin of the word, lower on the same page you linked to, you will see that it comes from Middle English and has the meaning of ‘peer inquisitively’. So, you're peering or looking into something.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Roman is basically right. It would usually be pry into.

It's not a strict rule, however. Remember that no preposition in needed at all. You can just say "I didn't mean to pry."

Since we can use pry without any preposition, and since it can be followed by any prepositional phrase, it's fine to say, "I didn't mean to pry about that." Or "I didn't mean to pry after hearing that you were fired." Or "I had started prying before Sasha told me the whole story."

But again, Roman is absolutely right that the more usual expression is pry into.