0

If we think of a world in which a remote control does not get lost as normal, when it disappears we get angry (Botton, 2000).

Here I am looking for a word instead of as normal, maybe more than one word. I think it can be understood what I meant by as normal. Could you help out?

Improve this question
5
  • You can make this idiomatic with a plain old adverb: something like "does not normally/ordinarily get lost".
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 16:58
  • "as normal" refers to "a world" there.
    – frosh
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 16:59
  • But you make that entirely clear with "a world in which. . . "; what more do you need?
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 17:01
  • OK, I understood what you mean, now I am checking the dictionary :)
    – frosh
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 17:06
  • 3
    Aha - looking at Rathony's answer I see that it is probably I who misunderstood. If Rathony has got the right handle on what you're trying to say, I'd abandon the think of X as Y construction and go for something like "If we think that in a normal world our remote control never gets lost, then we get angry when it disappears".
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 17:40

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

If we think of a world in which a remote control does not get lost as normal, when it disappears we get angry.

The above sentence has a "think of X as Y" construction. If you place "as Y" that far from "think of X", it might cause a confusion.

I advise you to rephrase it to:

If we think of a world as normal in which a remote control does not get lost, when it disappears we get angry.

You could consider using "ordinary" in place of "normal" as suggested in the comment as it means:

With no special or distinctive features; normal: ‘he sets out to depict ordinary people’ ‘it was just an ordinary evening’

There are many other words that can replace it. Visit here.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .