Learn English – What does “gone amok” mean in this sentence

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Clutter is political correctness gone amok. (In "On Writing Well")

Is there any grammar rule with "gone" in this sentence or is it just an idiom with "amok"?

Thank you

Best Answer

Clutter is political correctness gone amok.

No, this use of gone is not limited to amok. This construction follows the same pattern as gone crazy, and often carries the same overall meaning:

Clutter is political correctness gone crazy.

There's also go nuts:

Clutter is political correctness gone nuts.

Or gone wild

Clutter is political correctness gone wild.

The original idiom for amok was "running amok". The phrase described "an episode of sudden mass assault against people or objects usually by a single individual following a period of brooding" (Wikipedia). In "to run amok", the word "amok" is an adverb.

Gone is the past-participle form of to go, and amok serves as an adjective. Together, they modify the noun phrase "political correctness".

Thus, we have "political correctness that has become crazy".

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