Sandi from Inspiration for Writers wrote to ask:
“Can you do a segment on Past vs. Passed–if you haven’t already? Too many get these words mixed up.”
Very happy to oblige, Sandi!
Past – relates to location
The word past locates something in time, and sometimes in space. It can be
used as an adjective, noun, or adverb.
“Past” as an adjective
The first definition which the OED gives for past as an adjective is “Gone by in time; elapsed; done with; over.” For example:
- “The days for mourning are now past.”
When attributed to a group of people, past can also mean “Having served one’s term of office; former.” (OED)
- “All past presidents of the United States were male.”
And in grammar, we have more examples of past being used as an adjective, such as in “past tense” and “past participle”.
“Past” as a noun
The main meaning for the noun form of past, given by the OED, is “The time that has gone by; a time, or all of the time, before the present.”
- “In the past, standards were higher.”
- “We cannot live in the past.”
“Past” as a preposition
As a preposition, past can mean: “Beyond in time; after; beyond the age for or time of; (in stating the time of day) so many minutes, or a quarter or half of an hour, after a particular hour.” (OED)
- “It is almost half past five.”
It can also be used for location: “Beyond in place; further on than; at or on the further side of; to a point beyond.” (OED)
- “My house is the one just past the turning.”
“Past” as an adverb
The first meaning the OED cites for past being used as an adverb is “So as to pass or go by; by.” For example:
- “The ball sped past the goalkeeper.”
Passed – a verb in the past tense
Passed is the past participle of the verb “to pass”. It can be an intransitive verb (one which doesn’t require an object) or a transitive verb (one which requires both a subject and one or more objects).
“To pass” means “To proceed, move forward, depart; to cause to do this.” (OED) This can refer to movement forwards in time, in space, or in life (such as “to pass an examination”).
For example:
- “The weeks passed quickly.” (Intransitive: subject “the weeks” and no object).
- “I passed all my exams!” (Transitive: subject “I” and object “my exams”.)
- “He passed the ball well during the match earlier.” (Transitive: subject “He” and object “the ball”.)
When do “past” and “passed” get confused?
Often, writers muddle the words past and passed in sentences such as:
- “The heroes passed a village on their way towards the mountains.”
It’s common to see this written as:
- “The heroes past a village on their way towards the mountains.”
But the word should be passed, as (in this sentence) it’s the past participle of the verb “to pass”. An easy way to tell is to rewrite the sentence in the present tense, as though you’re describing something which is happening currently:
- “The heroes pass a village on their way towards the mountains.”
- or “The heroes are passing a village on their way towards the mountains.”
However, if you wrote:
- “The heroes walked past a village on their way towards the mountains.”
It’s correct to use past. The verb in this sentence is “walked”, and the “past” is acting as an adverb.
Unusual uses of the word “passed”
Most of the time, passed is a verb, as described above. There are a few occasions when it can be used as a noun or an adjective, though. For example:
- “Don’t speak ill of the passed.” (noun)
– This comes from the phrase “passed-away”. - “A passed pawn” (adjective)
– Term used in chess. - “A passed ball” (adjective)
– Term used in baseball. - “A passed midshipman/fireman/surgeon” (adjective)
– Someone who has passed a period of instruction and qualified through examination – apparently this usage arose in the navy.
Have you come across any other unusual uses? Are there still any cases where you’re not sure whether to use passed or past? Share your examples with us in the comments below!
Why Do People Confuse “Past” and “Passed”, Anyway?
The words “past” and “passed” are homonyms (or homophones): they sound alike, but they’re two different words. This makes it easy to confuse them when writing – just like people often confuse the words “there”, “their” and “they’re”.
It doesn’t help that “past” and “passed” have quite similar meanings, each referring to movement relating to a fixed point (in time, space, or even life). This means it’s a lot easier to muddle them up than it is with some other homonyms with very different meanings, like “blue” and “blew”.
For a whole list of homonyms that commonly get confused, check out 25 Confused Homonym Pairs.
Quick Rules of Thumb When Dealing With “Past” and “Passed”
If you’re still struggling with “past” and “passed”, remember, “past” can’t be used as a verb.
If you find it hard to identify a verb, try replacing “passed” with the words “went by”, and see if your sentence works:
The heroes passed a village on their way towards the mountains.
The heroes went by a village on their way towards the mountains.
Time passed slowly that afternoon.
Time went by slowly that afternoon.
(This won’t work in every case – e.g. “He passed his exams” won’t sound right as “He went by his exams” – but it’ll help you a lot of the time.)
Alternatively, as mentioned above, you can rewrite the sentence in the present tense, as though it’s happening right now.
Right/Wrong Examples of the Use of Past and Passed
Sometimes, it’s helpful to take a look at some examples so you can double-check if you’re using “past” and “passed” the right way:
Right: He ran straight past the bus stop. (“Past” is acting as a preposition here and could be replaced with the word “by”)
Wrong: He ran straight passed the bus stop. (“Passed” can’t be a preposition.)
—
Right: He passed the bus stop on his run. (“Passed” is a past-tense verb here and could be replaced with “went by”.)
Wrong: He past the bus stop on his run. (“Past” can’t be a verb.)
—
Right: She passed the time by reading a novel. (Here, “passed” is a transitive verb and “time” is the direct object.)
Wrong: She past the time by reading a novel. (“Past” can’t be a verb.)
—
Right: It is past the time you should be home. (“Past” is a preposition here. You could replace it with “after” or “beyond”.)
Wrong: It is passed the time you should be home. (“Passed” can’t be a preposition.)
Hopefully this helps clear up any “past” vs “passed” confusion for you.
“Past” vs “Passed” Quiz
For each sentence, select whether “past” or “passed” is correct.
PEOPLE!!!! If it’s used as a VERB, it’s PASSED!!! Rule of thumb! You know verb, right? Words that convey an action…?
“Times passed are times past.”
“We are by the past passed.”
“The past passed quickly,”
“We are past the past,”
“The past is passed down to us.”
“The salt was passed past me.”
“The hideout is past the pass we passed before.”
What fun this language! It corkscrews the tongue into shapes never before imagined.
Which is correct?
Did the cat run pass, past, passed the mouse?
The cat ran past the mouse.
Having passed the mouse, she was declared the winner.
Not a moment had passed when, having seen crazy cat run past the defending mighty mouse, the quaterback tossed a pass to the feline.
>>> The hideout is past the pass we passed before.
hehe… well done!
which is correct,
“a civilization long since past” or “a civilization long since passed”
It would seem to be “a civilization long since passed.” If we were to use the term “past” it would read something like this: “a civilization long since IN the past.”
“Passed” usually means “gone away,” whereas the “past” tends to mean a specific time frame that came before “NOW.”
An example: you can say “the past has passed,” but the reverse is not true, “the passed has past.”
“Passed” is a verb (either transitive or intransitive) and “past” is an adverb, adjective, preposition, or a noun.
If I say “those things past” I am referring to things that are currently in the past. If I say “those things passed” I am referring to things that have gone by me.
Yes, it is all rather confusing, which is why great writers rely on great editiors to catch the occasional verbal faux pas.
The more I learn of my mistakes of the past the more I am reminded of how very little passing test and my past training has benefited me.
It is rather depressing but that feeling will pass soon because I don’t want to be hung up over past events.
I passed the point of no return when I passed the test this past winter as I was passing through my past school classroom.
I’m so under educated from my past learnings that I can’t even be sure if that is even a sentence or not, but yet I walked away this past year from my school with a certified diploma that I gotten without really passing what I was suppose to pass in my past.
Is my word usage concerning the subject of this tutoring session being used correctly?
Plz bypass any other mistakes for one must move in baby steps or I’ll pass up all this learning and wash my hands of it leaving it all in the past.
I would like to be introduced to the person who invented the English language for all of my past I have been confused while trying to pass the tests I’ve taken in the past as I have passed under the large bridges in my town while driving my past vehicle called the green machine. (Green Machine should be an indicator of my age and all the good times that which have now passed).
Do kids even play outside anymore or is it really a thing of the past?
This is my very best effort to correctly use those words. If I am wrong then I am taking up Spanish and will never worry about if I could pass an English test which should be kept in my past anyway.
Plz help and ty.
Do not worry if you feel your formal education was lacking in some way, this is a common experience of many people of all ages. You need never stop learning and anything that you want to know you can learn at any time.
Perhaps an easy way to remember how “passed” vs. “past” is used is to think of “passed” as an event or something that happens; an action. “Past” is a place (in time) or a description of something.
So, I “passed” (action) the stop sign and I am now “past” (description of a location) the stop sign.
In the past (the very distant past), when I was in grammar school, we were taught how to diagram sentences, which I hated at the time, but this skill now allows me to verify correct sentence structure and the role each word plays in a sentence. Real grammar does not seem to be taught in schools anymore and certain aspects of classical education do not appear to be in vogue currently. This is unfortunate, because the ability to understand the meaning of words and sentences is essential to understanding others and ourselves. Effective communication is the foundation of human interaction and when it is difficult to communicate our thoughts and feelings we are left with a sense of isolation and alienation. The vague dissatisfaction people seem to feel in present day society has a lot to do with their inability to share their internal experience with others who can understand what they are communicating.
It is a good thing that there are websites like this dedicated to increasing our understanding of the language and, as a result, our understanding of each other.
I will now step down off my soap box.
Which is correct?
My therapist suggested to me that a weekend program would help me “get past” some of my blocked emotion
or
My therapist suggested to me that a weekend program would help me “get passed” some of my blocked emotion
Which is correct?
My therapist suggested to me that a weekend program would help me “get past” some of my blocked emotion
or
My therapist suggested to me that a weekend program would help me “get passed” some of my blocked emotion
There is a point of contention between myself and another writer. Is the proper usage:
“It is past time to [do X]”
or
“It is passed time to [do X]”?
The time passed quickly past.
Passed times are now in the past.
With his time machine past events passed before his eyes.
Am I right?
Patricia,
Your therapist better want you to “get past” blocked emotions . . . that is, “go to a place beyond them.”
Your MD might want your kidney stone to get “passed” . . . that is, move through you.
In fact, your therapist most likely wants you to get “past” the blockage (like some dam that stops up the emotional river) so that you can experience the emotions. When it comes to speaking about feelings, hydrodynamic analogies abound. We can be “flooded” by emotion, “overflow” with happiness, or our emotional “reservoir” can be low.
Jake,
It is “PAST” time to end this debate. Your time should not be “PASSED” in this way.
“Past” is a place. You might say “we are past that point in time when we can do X.”
“Passed” is an action. “I passed the football,” or “I passed by your house,” or “I passed some time with you.”
As you proceed south on Quarry Road passed the library, Knoll Meadows, the road comes up just after the white fence on the left (passed the stone wall).
Past or passed?
past in both cases
Thanks so much for this great article.
One thing that still confuses me: He’s past his prime. Why is it not “passed”? To me, he has passed his prime, i.e a verb, i.e. his prime was at point A, he passed it and is now at Point B…?
Oh wait, I think I just figured it out! the word “is” makes the difference. he passed his prime vesus he “is” past his prime. So is this an adjective or adverb in this case?
Rebecca, the sentence can be written as:
“He has passed his prime.”
“He passed his prime.”
“He is past his prime.”
“past” is a place or a state of being. “Passed” is an action.
You cannot “be” an action. You cannot “act” a place.
The phrase “past his prime” is actually a prepositional phrase, with “past” as the preposition, since it is descriptive of a location (in the same way “below” is a preposition).
The phrase “has passed” in the other example is a verb.
Actually, your last point in the ‘past’ explanation is incorrect.
The word ‘past’ should only ever be used in conjunction with time. “Past 5 weeks, the past year, 50 years in the past” etc, etc.
Passed refers to passing something by “I passed it on the way to work”, “He passed me as he drove off down the street”, etc.
He passed through security with ease
He got past security with ease
Something just doesn’t seem right, is it “got”?
Which is the correct usage of the word Passed vs Past?
The dates have already past.
or
The dates have already passed.
Is this sentence wrong? ” I couldn’t get passed seeing his dirty hair” should it be ” I couldn’t get past seeing his diry hair” ?
I hope to be a passed midshipman in a couple of years.
FIVE years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters!
-beginning of Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey”
“past” here seems a poetic variation of the participle “passed”. Is there another reading that can justify passed used in this way?
I’m pretty sure everyone is making too much out of this. From what I get out of the actual article is that “passed” is a verb and “past” is basically any other part of speech. The only confusion at this point should be whether it is used as a verb or an adverb (or any other part of spech for that matter).
it is not passed the deadline but past the deadline!
I was chatting with a friend and the question is which one is correct?
It is past quitting time or It is passed quitting time.
Thank you for this article. The explanations were logical and easy to understand.
I am still a little confused! Can someone help me please.
If for example i have the sentence:
It’s hard to believe so many days have now passed
or is it
It’s hard to believe so many days have now past
Thank you in advance!
“9 teenagers with their pants hanging down past their cracks,”
I know this is a bit of a trend and definitely not something from the past (ahaha) (and sometimes I almost pass out if the girl has some cute underwear and a nice ass), but is it “past” or “passed”?
@Tom
It’s hard to believe so many days have now passed.
@Peter
You wrote nothing wrong there but I’m afraid looking at teen girls’ ass cracks is very inappropriate and borderline criminal.
I want to know whether the sentence “It will still take several decades before these substances have disappeared from the atmosphere” is correct or not.
Thanks
I come up with a lot of unusual uses of passed/past.
But that’s because my co-workers are idiots. I’m printing this and passing it out to my office!
So is it appropriate to say “If you can replace the word in question with ‘beyond’ or ‘after’, use ‘past'”?
whats grammatically correct:
I need to submit these reports before the deadlines have passed or past.
Which one is correct:
Past business hours or passed business hours?
I believe the way I understand it is correct and if you use this logic it can help clear up your confusions.
Pass/Passed – to throw/have thrown a ball or to not fail
Pass/Past – present/past tense of doing something to pass or get past…
To pass the gate is it passed or past?
Unless you are throwing the gate to someone it is impossible to pass the gate without another action (verb). So if you correct your grammar you can clear the confusion.
ie: if you passed the gate.. it means you threw it to someone.
To physically pass the gate you can’t do it standing still, you must walk, run, drive, roll, crawl or perform some sort of action otherwise you will always be standing in the same spot.
So…
I walked past the gate. To get past the gate you needed to do an action such as walk, by adding the action you performed in it makes it easier to remember which spelling you need.
So if you want to throw the gate then you will have passed it, if you want to get by you will have walked past it. (Past for past tense of an action and passed for throwing or passing an exam).
I hope this helps clear things up.
For the last 2 above my comment that may or may not be clarified by my answer deadlines and business hours are time factor, when time is involved just remember how you would write the time (half past five). Time has past, unless you are throwing the clock to someone then you have passed them the time :p
Passing the passed to Past is definitely not recommended because Past has not passed in the past tests of past perfect tense and past simple tense. However, after passing the tests, Past happily walked over the passed.
what do you think? Do the sentences make sense?
What’s past is prologue.
What’s passed is prologue.
I just want to confirm, but aren’t both of these uses correct in their own way, it just changes the meaning?
To clarify, it needs to be said that in order for my above example to make sense it must be written as follows:
What is past is prologue.
What has passed is prologue.
To my knowledge, these are both grammatically correct.
I would not have put it ‘passed/past’ you. ? Any suggestions?
What about:
The person had bad qualities that were hard to look past.
Would that be “past” or “passed”?
“I was angry this passed/past weekend.”
Are they both correct? ‘Past’ in the sense that the weekend is in the past. Passed in the sense that we have passed the weekend in time. So unsure.
Very helpful. I tried to sign up for the free Basic English Grammar book but it gave me an error when I put in my email address.
In answer to your question Brendan I think it would be “passed” because I see it as being “on the further side of” in that example.
Can’t remember the rule on this one:
She had to get past me first or
she had to get passed me first
Clarification please
Thank you.
Hopefully this will help. The most common mistake I see with these words is when someone or something passes another thing.
When pass is used as the sole verb, passed is the correct word choice:
She passed by the sign.
When pass is preceded by another verb, past is the correct word choice:
She rushed/drove/ran/hopped past the sign.