Word Confusion: By Pass Pass By versus Bypass

Posted March 17, 2022 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
29 Oct 2022

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<p>This bit of text “by passing the human’s nobility and free will, he entered the man’s mind and took a brief stroll around” threw me for a loop.</p>
<p>Let alone, <em><strong>by pass</strong></em> should be <em><strong>pass by</strong></em>, as in “passing by the human’s nobility and free will . . .” so maybe the author meant that “he entered the man’s mind without being noticed”.</p>
<p>But then I got to thinking that the author meant “going around the human’s nobility”, etc., as in “bypassing the human’s nobility and free will . . .” since <em><strong>bypass</strong></em> is about going around.</p>
<p>I’m confused now.</p>
<p>You may want to explore the word confusion post “<a href=

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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~~By Pass~~ Pass By	Bypass
Scripps Miramar’s American Saddlebred Show Horses Pass By in the 124th Rose Parade, Pasadena, California, by Carol M. Highsmith is in the public domain, via Picryl and courtesy of the Jon B. Lovelace Collection of California Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America Project in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.	Diagram Showing Before and After Stomach Bypass Surgery by Rybulo7 is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons and courtesy of Cancer Research UK.
Part of Grammar:
Phrasal verb Third person present verb: passes by Past tense or past participle: passed by present participle: passing by	Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: bypasses Gerund: bypassing Third person present verb: bypasses Past tense or past participle: bypassed, bypast Present participle: bypassing Alternate spelling: by-pass
Happen without being noticed or fully experienced by someone	Noun: A road passing around a town or its center to provide an alternative route for through traffic A secondary channel, pipe, or connection to allow a flow when the main one is closed or blocked The alternative channel created during a bypass operation [Medical] A surgical operation in which an alternative channel is created, especially to improve blood flow to the heart when a coronary artery is blocked [Medical] A surgical procedure to create such a channel [Electronics] An electrical circuit, especially one containing a capacitor, connected in parallel around one or more components, providing an alternative path for certain frequencies Verb, transitive: Go past or around Provide (a town) with a route diverting traffic from its center Avoid or circumvent (an obstacle or problem)
Examples:
Sometimes I feel that life is passing me by. Three buses passed by, but none of them was the right one. I was just passing by her house, so I thought I’d call in and see her. A car slowly passed by the front of the house. Sometimes I feel that life is just passing me by. Did you tell me about that? Sorry, it completely passed me by. She preferred to pass by difficult problems.	Noun: Take the bypass around the city to avoid heavy traffic. On-off bypass control using flow switches and a solenoid valve is simple and relatively inexpensive. I had a bypass last year so have been building up my strength. He’s just had a triple bypass operation. My granddad is well into his eighties and had a bypass. He’s just had a triple bypass operation. Bypass capacitors have two different functions. Verb, transitive: Bypass the farm and continue to the road. The town has been bypassed since the freeway opened. He bypassed his supervisor and went straight to the top. The oil pipeline bypasses the protected wilderness area.
Derivatives:
	Noun: by-passer, bypasser
Phrasal Verb
pass by someone pass someone by
History of the Word:
	1840–50; apparently as a back formation from by-passage, which was first recorded in Middle English, 1300–50, from the Old French equivalent to pass(er) meaning to cross, go through + -age.

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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.

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