do you know when to use Pass and Past?
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.
Taken from:
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