Passed or Past? How to Choose the Right Word (original) (raw)

The words "passed"and "past" both come from the verb "to pass."Originally, in fact, they were the same word—but that's no longer true. Over time, their uses diverged, and the two words are now far from interchangeable, despite how similar they may seem. "Passed" and "past" are also homophones, words that are pronounced the same but differ in meaning and spelling.

How to Use "Passed"

The word "passed" means to move on, move ahead, take place, go beyond, go across, decline, win approval, or complete successfully. "Passed" is both the past and past participle form of the verb "pass." It can function either as a transitive verb, meaning it takes a direct object, or an intransitive verb, which does not take a direct object.

How to Use "Past"

"Past" usually means belonging to a former time or beyond a time or place. "Past" has many functions. It can be a noun (meaning a previous time), an adjective (meaning ago), and a preposition (meaning beyond). "Past" can also be an adverb, which is a part of speech (or word class) that's primarily used to modify a verb, adjective, or other adverbs.

Examples

Differentiating between "passed" and "past" allows us to either talk about the "past" (or previous time) more precisely or to use a verb, "passed," indicating some kind of movement. Consider the following examples to deepen your understanding of the distinction between the two terms:

How to Remember the Difference

Remember that "passed" describes an action, while "past" describes a time or space. There are a few memory tricks to help you determine which word is correct. The word "past" describes a previous space or time, so remember that the last two letters of "past" are "s" and "t" standing for "space" or "time."

When it comes to recognizing when to use the word "passed," Spellzone suggests that you imagine two people with names beginning with "s" passing something to each other: Sarah passed Sally the salt. Spellzone also suggests putting your sentence into the present tense. "If the word ‘pass’ (or ‘passes’) works in the new sentence it means you need to use 'passed,'" says Spellzone. So you might have:

Putting the sentence into the present tense would yield:

You could never say, "Sarah past the salt to Sue."

Idiom Alerts

Sometimes, "passed" or "past" is used as an idiom, a set expression of two or more words that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words.

Pass(ed) away: The phrasal verb "pass(ed) away" is a euphemism for die or died, as in this example:

Pass(ed) the hat (around): The idiom "pass(ed) the hat (around)" means to collect donations of money from a group of people. This sentence uses the idiom as such:

Pass(ed) out: The phrasal verb "pass(ed) out"means to faint or lose consciousness. These sentences make the point:

Note how the last sentence uses both the idiom "passed out" as well as the verb "passed by" meaning to move beyond or to walk past.

Past your prime: The expression "past one's prime" means no longer in good health or no longer as good at something as one used to be. These examples show some uses of the phrase:

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