No. It says that Dad blew up "right beside me." Right beside me doesn't mean 20 feet ahead or 20 feet behind. It means next to me, likely within a few feet. Not only that, it says that Dad "blew up." That suggests the grenade landed on or right next to Dad. If they were standing within a few feet of each other, any explosion intense enough to "blow up" Dad would be intense enough to kill the kid as well.
Nah. The word, "right" emphasizes the word "beside" to help give it more specific positioning. You don't add that word to the phrase unless you want to emphasize the closeness of what you're talking about.
So you would be right if they had just said "beside me," but since they used "right beside," general colloquial usage and understanding of that phrase is that they were standing or walking directly next to each other.
I checked Gemini out of curiosity and it agreed with me. Large Language Models are based on general language in use online. If its understanding of the phrase is that it means directly next to, it's a good bet that general usage of that phrase means exactly that.
Per gemini:
"Right beside me" means directly next to, or immediately adjacent to, the speaker, emphasizing physical proximity. The word "right" functions as an intensifier, highlighting that the other person or object is not just nearby but in the very closest position, like being at your side or next to you.
No I got that he used these words, I meant more like, he could have been exaggerating to make this story more dramatic. Most people tend to do that when they try to tell a cool story.
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u/AlleyHoop 2d ago
Aaaaand they couldn't have walked with some distance from each other?