to go off the rails: meaning and explanation
to go off the rails = to begin behaving in an unacceptable or outrageous way.
We tend to use this expression to say that someone’s life has started to go in the wrong direction (in a sudden and dramatic way).
Imagine a gifted student – his life was “going in the right direction” until he broke up with his girlfriend, and then everything started to go wrong. If he went off the rails, maybe he stopped studying, started partying every night, drank too much, stopped taking care of himself and so on.
Have a go at this dictation exercise to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?
Dictation #1
Accent: Northern England
…and ended up dropping out…
There are two phrasal verbs in this sentence: to end up doing something, and to drop out. Do you know them?
Discussion questions
Write your answers to these questions in the comments section, and I’ll get back to you with some feedback:
- Have you ever gone off the rails, or do you know anyone who has? What caused it and what happened? How did you get your life back on track?
- Is it normal for teenagers to go off the rails at some point?
7 years ago I dropped out the army life when I was living in Spain, because I felt that my life had gone off the rails after my girlfriend switch me with another guy. But now, I’m much better and wiser 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience Erich – it’s a really good example.
– Careful with the phrasal verb ‘to drop out of sth’. When you include the thing that you are leaving or quitting (e.g. school, the army), you need ‘of’. So your example should be: “I dropped out of the army”.
– Very good use of the past perfect: “I felt that my life had gone off the rails”.
Out of interest, how do you feel now about dropping out of the army?
Once I was passing through a zebra pass by bycicle and a guy almost ran over me and my byke but I could manage to jump off the byke before something happened to me then I stood up and started discussing with the driver … But he didn’t say anything and left
That’s terrible! It’s dangerous to ride a bike on the roads here in the UK too, although some cities are better than others. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt.
One thing to be careful with: ‘discuss’ is a false friend. I think for you it means something like ‘argue’ – an angry discussion. For us it is more neutral – a serious talk, but not angry. A discussion might become an argument if people get angry, but it isn’t the same as an argument. Does that make sense?
I used to know a man who was an intelligent, good-looking and wealthy some years ago. But he had gone off the rail, used drugs, lost all his earned: family, children, money, and respect.
Wow, that’s a very good example Gulnar. One little correction about the tense you chose (he had gone off the rails). By using the past perfect (he had gone off the rails), you’re saying that this happened before the other action in your sentence (the man was intelligent etc). So in your example, first he went off the rails, and then he was intelligent, wealthy etc).. I think the sequence is probably the opposite – first he was intelligent and wealthy, and then he went off the rails and lost everything. When we are telling a story and are just… Read more »
Actually, I’ve never gone off the rails as I’ve always been trying to do my best to become a perfect student
Well done Victoria 🙂
One small correction – it would be better to say “I’ve always tried to do my best” because you’re talking about something permanent (rather than temporary – e.g. “This year I’ve been trying to become a perfect student”).
Sadly, I remember when my aunt died back then in 1997, then my cousin, who was just a 15-year-old girl, went completely off the rails. Besides dropping out of high school, she got pregnant and after that her boyfriend dumped her.
Unfortunately, she could never got his life back on track and live a quiet and peaceful life ever since.
I know one guy who was a professional sportsman. But then – friends, parties.. and he went off the rails. Now he takes drugs and live not a good life.
P.S. What does the phrasal verb “to drop out of something” means?
Perfect example, well done Tanya.
One correction: it would sound more natural if you said: “Now he takes drugs and doesn’t live a good life”.
To drop out of something = to leave a course, school, university etc without finishing your studies. There is an exercise for this phrasal verb here: https://microenglish.com/phrasal-verbs/drop-out/