Friends,

I need assistance to understand the following compound sentence from Lexitron (under the entry for "กึกก้อง"):

"เพียงชั่วพริบตา เสียงระเบิดก็ดังกึกก้อง พร้อมกับเปลวไฟลุกโหมทั่วตึก"

My reading would render the sentence:

"In the blink of an eye, a bomb was set off with a deafening blast; while at the same time flames shot up engulfing the entire building."

But, I am not sure. What bothers me is the sequencing. Usually, the sound of the bomb comes first then, later, the fire caused by the bomb spreads to the bombed building. Here, พร้อมกับ seems to indicate that the sound and flames were coincidental. Is there a more accurate English sentence which reflects the Thai? Perhaps the setting is an arsenal where bombs were set off by a fire with a different cause. What do you think?

Thanks.

Edited July 5, 201016 yr by DavidHouston

One question might be, is เสียงระเบิด necessarily caused only by a bomb, per se? What if the explosion only sounded like a bomb going off, but was actually caused by the igniting of, say LPG? I suppose that the explosion precedes the conflagration in such a case, but to normal, human perception they would be virtually simultaneous.

Hi David,

Would 'and flames...' be too mundane?

Edited July 5, 201016 yr by SoftWater

Hi David,

Would 'and flames...' be too mundane?

My question is precisely about that conjunction and the particular specificity of "พร้อมกับ . . ." which seems to express, "while at the same time." I would very much welcome an answer which says, "พร้อมกับ" is equivalent to "แล้วก็ . . . "

Thanks.

Hi David,

Would 'and flames...' be too mundane?

My question is precisely about that conjunction and the particular specificity of "พร้อมกับ . . ." which seems to express, "while at the same time." I would very much welcome an answer which says, "พร้อมกับ" is equivalent to "แล้วก็ . . . "

Thanks.

I think Softwater is trying to point out that possibly "พร้อมกับ" here is equivalent to the English "and".

"... and flames engulfed the building."

Sorry David, I didn't mean to be obtuse.

Simon's right. I was thinking that the English conjunction 'and' often carries more weight than we think.

e.g., "The bullet struck his heart and he died."

Isn't 'and' here exactly the same as แล้วก็, and (that is, 'and' now in a simpler sense...) as good a substitution as any for 'พร้อมกับ' in the Lexitron sample sentence?

It's only a suggestion as I'm no expert on these finer points.

I'd have just said

"In the blink of an eye, a bomb was set off with a deafening blast; with flames shooting up and engulfing the entire building (as a result)."

Basically what everyone else said.

Thank you all very much. I now have a better understanding of the use of the subject conjunction.

David,

I've used myself and heard Thai teachers say to students- ออกเสียงพร้อมกัน 'pronounce together', so as in your passage and mentioned by another poster- 'with flames', or even 'together with flames......'

bannork

Here's a sentence from the book I'm currently reading แฮร์รี่ พอตเตอร์กับนักโทษแห่งอัซคาบัน;

"เฟร็ดกับจอร์จหายตัวไปสองสามชั่วโมงแล้วกลับมาพร้อมกับบัตเตอร์เบียร์เต็มสองแขน"

My translation;

"Fred and George disappeared for two or three hours then returned with two armsful of butterbeer"

together with

Here's a sentence from the book I'm currently reading แฮร์รี่ พอตเตอร์กับนักโทษแห่งอัซคาบัน;

"เฟร็ดกับจอร์จหายตัวไปสองสามชั่วโมงแล้วกลับมาพร้อมกับบัตเตอร์เบียร์เต็มสองแขน"

My translation;

"Fred and George disappeared for two or three hours then returned with two armsful of butterbeer"

This is not a comparison; in the original piece similtaneous events are described, here there is only one event 'their return' you have to read พร้อมกับ as prepared with butter and beer. .

quick edit: maybe this only makes sense to me. what I mean is; the time element is covered by 'returned' one event, there is no need for พร้อม is there?

Edited July 8, 201016 yr by tgeezer