Do you want to be blown away?

Do you want to be "blown away"?

Maybe yes...or maybe no! It all depends on whether we are talking about your feelings or the weather outside.

Today I'd like to talk about the common English expression "blown away" and the different ways in which native speakers use it. I'll start with the most frequent usage:

1. Feeling Impressed and Amazed

When used figuratively, "to be blown away" means to be extremely impressed, amazed, or stunned by someone or something. It normally has an element of shock to it because you weren't expecting the thing to be so good!

Formation:

Passive Form: Subject + be + blown away [+ by + something]

* I was completely blown away by the power of his voice
* We were blown away by the flavour combination in the chef's latest creation

Active Form: Something + Blow + [pronoun] + away

* Try this new cake - it'll blow you away!
* The book's unexpected ending blew me away

2. Windy Weather

What about actual, physical wind? Can you be "blown away" by strong weather?

Imagine this conversation:
Q: How was your trip to Tenerife?
A: We were blown away!

Tenerife is a very windy island so it might not be clear if they extremely impressed or whether they had to fight the windy conditions. Probably both!

* I was nearly blown away on my walk home. (Native speakers LOVE to exaggerate, but we do often modify the phrase a little with words such as "nearly" or "almost" when we're talking about powerful wind affecting a person!)

If we're talking about an object, then it might literally blow away:

* When I returned to the campsite I discovered that my tent had blown away!

______

Now it's your turn!
Cafetalk columns can be pretty quiet but I really do love to engage with you all. Please feel free to tell me what has blown you away recently in the comments below. Let's see if you can blow me away with the number of responses this week! I promise to reply to them all.

If you would like to practice more common native phrases and expressions then please check out my 'Useful Native Phrases & Expressions' lesson.