Get carried away means to get so excited or absorbed that you can't stop and go too far: buy too much, lose track of time chatting, overdo the decorations. It almost always appears as get carried away or be carried away. Literally, carry away means to take something away: The wind carried our umbrella away.
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get/be carried away (by/with + something); don't get carried away; carry something away
- We got carried away chatting and missed the last bus home.
- Don't get carried away with the decorations, it's just a small birthday party.
- The strong wind carried our beach umbrella away.
What changed
First versionI carried away and spent all my money on shoes.
RevisionI got carried away and spent all my money on shoes.
Getting carried away feels like something you do, which makes I carried away tempting. But in English it's something that happens to you, as if you were swept along: I got carried away. Without got, I carried away means you carried something off, and the sentence has to say what.
Get carried away is the moment you get too absorbed and overdo it: We got carried away and missed the bus. Be carried away by is more often about a strong feeling that takes hold of people: The audience was carried away by the music.
Your turn
I only went in for a pair of socks, but there was a sale, and I ___ and bought three jackets.
Show the answer
got carried away — You went in for socks and bought three jackets, so you got too excited: got carried away. Carried away without got means “carried off” and needs to say what was carried.
Describe a time you got so absorbed in something that you overdid it. Say what you were doing and what it led to.
I got carried away playing a new video game and went to bed at four in the morning.
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