Revised as of
10 July 2023
NO. NO, no, no, no, no . . . how can anyone confuse these three!?? It drives me crazy. These are so BASIC!! PEOPLE!?!?!
Now that I got that out of my system, I actually can understand how these three words can sound alike — they are heterographs (a subset of homophone). And Lord knows there are plenty of people out there who do confuse pass, passed, and past. However. That is no excuse when writing them. Do not pass Go if you have been confused in the past as to whether your choice passed or not! Always check, even if only as a brief mental pause.
| What if we take a look at the following: | Can be interpreted as: | |
|---|---|---|
| He went pass. | Huh? For one, it needs verb agreement. For another, it sounds like someone for whom English is a second language or . . . | |
| He went passed. | He went and passed out? Nope, something’s still missing. | |
| He went past. | Ah, now I want to know what he went past. Perhaps he passed a train, or maybe a plane, or even a brain!! | |
| until the prophecy came to pass | until it happened | |
| until the prophecy passed | What? Did the prophecy die? Was it drunk? | |
| until the prophecy came past | Maybe became past. Although it sounds rather pretentious: until the prophecy became past?? Nope, dorky. And I don’t think the prophecy is a physical entity . . . I simply cannot see Prophecy driving past me in a car, nope, can’t do it. | |
| Head ’em off at the pass! | I do like this one! It reminds me of old Westerns. | |
| Head ’em off at the passed! | Huh? The cemetery? A pile of unconscious bodies? | |
| Head ’em off at the past! | If you’re Doctor Who, you can take your time machine and do just that. | |
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Pass | Passed | Past |
|---|---|---|
Matt Cassel, 2015 by Keith Allison is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Matt Cassel about to make a pass. |
Passed Out is under the CC0 license, via PxHere. |
|
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Noun 1, 2; Verb 2, intransitive & transitive
Plural for the noun: passes Third person present verb: passes |
Morpheme: pass
Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: passes |
Adjective; Adverb; Noun; Preposition Plural for noun: pasts |
| Noun: A route over or through mountains 1 In place names A passage for fish over or past a weir or dam
An act or instance of moving past or through something 2
A successful completion of an examination or course
A card, ticket, or permit giving authorization for the holder to enter or have access to a place, form of transportation, or event [In football, soccer, hockey, and other games] An act of throwing, kicking, or hitting the ball or puck to another player on the same team A state or situation of a specified, usually bad or difficult, nature Verb, intransitive:
Go past or across
[Of time or a point in time] Elapse
Be transferred from one person or place to another, especially by inheritance
[Of a candidate] Be successful in (an examination, test, or course)
[Of a legislative or other official body] Approve or put into effect (a proposal or law) by voting on it
Pronounce (a judgment or judicial sentence)
Forgo one’s turn in a game or an offered opportunity
Verb, transitive:
Go past or across
[Of time or a point in time] Elapse
Transfer (something) to someone, especially by handing or bequeathing it to the next person in a series
[Of a candidate] Be successful in (an examination, test, or course)
[Of a legislative or other official body] Approve or put into effect (a proposal or law) by voting on it Pronounce (a judgment or judicial sentence)
Discharge (something, especially urine or feces) from the body Forgo one’s turn in a game or an offered opportunity
|
Verb, intransitive: For definitions, see the column to the left. Verb, transitive: |
Adjective: Gone by in time and no longer existing
Adverb:
Noun:
[Grammar] A past tense or form of a verb Preposition:
|
| Examples: | ||
| Noun: Head ’em off at the pass! He made a pass at me. It took repeated passes with the swipe card to get it to work. An unmarked plane had been making passes over his house. She made a pass at Stephen. The scanner made a pass over the image. We have a 100 percent pass rate. So, did George ever pass? We got three backstage passes! He made a pass to the wide receiver. This is a sad pass for a fixture that used to crackle with excitement. Things have come to a pretty pass. The pass over the mountain was open again after the snows. We went over the Khyber Pass. A fish pass makes it easier for fish to migrate upstream or to get through a barrier. There were two battles during the Civil War at the Sabine Pass. Verb, intransitive: We will not let you pass. Infections can pass from mother to child at birth. If Ann remarried, the estate would pass to her new husband. Cash was passing briskly. She couldn’t agree, but let it pass. He could pass for a native of Sweden. A jury could not be trusted to pass upon the question of Endicott’s good faith. To the enigmatic question we answered Pass. We waited until the prophecy came to pass. Verb, transitive: You should pass an electric current through it. Did she pass away peacefully in her sleep? The two vehicles had no room to pass each other. Please pass the fish. Passing judgment on these crucial issues requires great thought. It is now my duty to pass sentence upon you. She would pass remarks about the Paxtons in their own house. Please track the frequency of your passing urine. |
Verb, intransitive: We passed on dessert and had coffee. Her rather revealing dress passed without comment. The bill passed by 164 votes to 107. The day and night passed slowly. The moment had passed. This fact has passed almost unnoticed. His father had passed to the afterlife. A good and decent man has passed on. He passed through towns and villages. Verb, transitive: That jerk passed me again! That girl parties too hard — she’s passed out again. The company passed on paying a dividend again this year. East had passed his partner’s opening bid of one club. He passed her a cup. These are persons of interest who have passed bad checks. She passed her driving test. He was passed fit by army doctors. The bill was passed despite fierce opposition. This item has passed its sell-by date. This was how they passed the time. Your letter has been passed to Mr. Rich for action. She passed a rest area with a pay phone. These are homes that have passed from public to private ownership. |
Adjective: It’s past time. The danger is now past. They made a study of the reasons why past attempts had failed. He is a past chairman of the society. The band has changed over the past twelve months. The past tense expresses an action that has happened or a state that previously existed. Adverb: That jerk who passed me before? Well, he went past again! Several large angelfish swam slowly past. A week went past and nothing changed. Noun: She had found it hard to make ends meet in the past. The war-damaged church is preserved as a reminder of the past. The monuments act as guidelines through the country’s colorful past. The heroine was a lady with a past. Passed is the past tense form of pass. Preposition: He rode on past the crossroads. He began to drive slowly past the houses. By this time it was finally past 3:30. He is past giving the best advice. My hair was past praying for. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adjective: passless Noun: passage, subpass Verb: outpass, passage |
Noun: pastness | |
| Phrasal Verb | ||
| pass as pass by pass by someone pass someone by pass for pass off pass on pass something off pass someone pass something off as pass out pass someone over pass something over pass something up pass over pass up pass something pass up something |
||
| History of the Word: | ||
|
Middle English variant of passed and a past participle of pass. | |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Pass vs Passed vs Past
Apple Dictionary.com
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Nostalgia is by Paul Bica from Toronto, Canada, and under the CC BY 2.0 license with an old Phone Booth by Angela Marie from NRW/Germany, under the CC BY 2.0 license, which runners in the Air Force Marathon are both past and about to pass by US Department of Defense Current Photos (120915-F-KX404-139), which is in the public domain. All are via Wikimedia Commons.
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