Accusations

[DavidHouston]

Friends,

Please help me understand the following sentence which discusses the accusations against members of the PAD for their role in the airport disruptions last year:

แต่ละคนที่ถูกหมายเรียกจะได้รับแจ้งข้อหาหนักเบาแตกต่างกันไปตามพฤติกรรม

I think that this sentence might say:

"Each individual who receives a summons will be informed about what he or she is being accused of; the severity of each charge will depend on each individual's specific actions [at the time the action was conducted]."

I decided to break the sentence into two independent clauses; note: there is no spacing in the original Thai. There seem to be two independent thoughts, one as to the summons process and the second as to the nature of the summons.

Or maybe, the sentence should simply be:

"Each summoned individualwill be read the accusation, the severity of which depends on what theindividual did."

Here again, perhaps, is our passive voice, twice, in the first clause: "ถูกหมายเรียก" and "ได้รับแจ้ง". On the other hand, perhaps "ถูก" simply means "to touch"; and "รับ" means "to receive". Does the voice make any difference to our understanding of this sentence?

What do you think? Thanks.

Edited July 20, 2010 by DavidHouston

[bhoydy]

Each person who is summoned will be informed of their charges, which will vary in severity depending on the individual's actions (at the time).

Can i get away without a comma there? Maybe there should be one after charges. There are definitely two thoughts though.

On the passive voice point as you can see, yes to both but whether that's what the writer intended i'm unsure.

On second thoughts there needs a comma there so i've just added it.

Edited July 20, 2010 by bhoydy

[AjarnPasa]

I would say 'Each person who received a summons will have the accusation explained to them [including its] severity, depending on the individual's actions.'

Certainly seems like more than one clause however one puts it.

[GarryP]

My two cents worth.

Each person who receives a summons will be informed of the (differing) severity of charges against them based on their (illegal) actions.

[tgeezer]

Just a guess:

Everybody who is summoned wiil be charged seperately depending on what they have done.

I am interpreting หมายเรียก summons รับแจ้งข้อหานักเบา charged appropriatelyแตกต่างกัน seperately จะ.....ไป is the continuous element พฤติกรรม น การกระทำหรือการแสดงออก, ความคิดและความรู้สึก;การตอบสนองคต่อสื่งเร้า I don't know how to translate this, the second definition is 'reaction' I think. It almost seems like 'attitude'! I have just said 'done' to be logical but there could be an element of repentence which might affect the charges.

edit. I think that it is to reassure people who are not committed nihilists that they will be treated less severly.

Edited July 23, 2010 by tgeezer

[DavidHouston]

I want to thank all of you very much for your assistance in figuring out the meaning and formation of this expression.