Ask WordMum: Passed vs Past
This month we’re delving into history and learning how to talk about it confidently (and correctly!). Join us for learning about what’s past and what has passed us by.
Our Question
When should I use passed and when should it be past?
WordMum Says
These two words have the same kind of meaning and sound almost identical, so it’s easy to muddle them up. So how do we know which one to use? Let’s take a look at what they both mean and how they work first.
Passed (verb)
This spelling is the past tense and participle for the verb to pass. It means to move in a specific direction, or to go beyond, over, or across something. So a person can have passed through a village, passed a landmark, or passed over a bridge. In the past tense, the implication is that the motion is complete in most cases.
Past (noun, adjective, adverb, preposition)
Here’s where things get a little trickier. The key thing to note here is that this is not a form of the verb to pass. If you’re using pass as the verb in your sentence, you want the form that follows the standard rules for conjugating past tenses: add ‘ed’ to get passed.
The word past refers to two main concepts: something behind you in time or space.
So, something might be in the past (noun) or it might be now past (adjective) to indicate that it has already happened. If we talk about the past weekend (adjective), we mean the weekend that has just happened. If a month goes past (adverb), it indicates the passage of time. Or it might be a verb in past tense (noun).
Used as a preposition or adverb, it means beyond. So if it is past midnight, it is beyond (after) midnight. If someone has driven past a turnoff, they have gone beyond it. If this post is past belief, it has gone beyond the bounds of what is believable.
How to remember which is which
The key here is to identify the verb in the sentence. If passed is the verb, you want the ‘ed’ spelling. If another verb is in use, you want the other spelling.
If you’re not sure, try changing the tense of the sentence. Switch it to present tense and see if the verb becomes pass or passes. If it does, you want to put ‘ed’ on the end for the past tense. If it remains static and a different word changes tense (or if nothing changes and you’re already in present tense!), then it’s not the verb in play and you should use past.
Example Time!
We have a strategy to use to distinguish these words. Let’s see it in action!
Management passed him over for promotion
Always a sad sentence! But is it correct? To check, let’s drop it into present tense: management passes him over for promotion. Here, the form of pass does change with the tense, so we know we want the past tense verb and to stick with the ‘ed’ spelling.
The battle was in the past
This one is a little more straightforward, as past is being used as a noun here. To double-check, the present tense version is: the battle is in the past. The verb that changed wasn’t pass, so we know that past isn’t the active verb in this sentence. The ‘t’ spelling is correct!
She had passed to the next life
In this case, we’re back to the verb! Our switch to present gives us: she passes to the next life. If you prefer she had passed on as a euphemism for dying, the same applies; the presence of on doesn’t affect the verb here.
The invoice was past due
This means that the invoice is overdue or beyond its due date. The beyond concept gives us the past spelling, and switching the tense to present gives us is instead of was, similar to the example above.
He went past the store and had to backtrack
This is one of the trickier cases, because it’s easy to assume that past is the verb in the sentence. However, it’s not; it’s an adverb. The verb in action is actually went. If we switch the tense to present, you can see it change: he goes past the store. Because past doesn’t change, we know we want the ‘t’ ending.
I hope I passed that along clearly and your worries about which word to use are in the past! May you enjoy writing about all the things that your characters are moving beyond or through.
If you want to catch up on existing posts, check out dedicated page that lists them all for you, in alphabetical order. If this post, or any others, reminded you of similar tricky words you’d like help with, let WordMum know.
See you next month for more wordy wisdom!