Past and Passed

[paranoid marvin]

These are probably the only two words that I have some confusion with when writing. There are times when the right option seems obvious, but other times when (to me) not so obvious.

So for example, A car drove past/passed. or I can see a car driving past/passed. or In the future, cars will drive past/passed my house.

So here we have the past/present and future tenses. The right word to use here seems to be 'past'.

Although if my examples were He passed/past the point of no return. or He will have soon passed/past the point of no return.

The right choice would seem to be 'passed'.

Why is this, and does anyone else have similar issues with these two words?

 

[Valtharius]

In the first set of examples past is functioning as a preposition, not a verb.

 

[HareBrain]

I'm clear which is which, but I have sometimes used the wrong one as a typo, and also with other homonyms. Sometimes, horrifically, seeing the wrong one used often enough will infect me; I'll see the correct usage and think "ha, that's wrong", then realise it isn't. Loose for lose is a recent example of that.

 

[Valtharius]

Here's another random thought: In the old days there was no "correct" spelling of words. People just spelled things however they damn well pleased. This led to lots of inconsistency you see in pre-modern printed and handwritten documents.
Here's an interesting article:

Spelling of Shakespeare's name - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So don't feel bad about it.

 

[farntfar]

Surely that's "Don't feel bard about it."

 

[Valtharius]

I meant what I said. And don't call me Shirley.

 

[The Judge]

You're confusing two different things, pm -- "passed" being the past participle of the verb "to pass" and "past" which is a preposition roughly meaning "beyond" (as well as being an adjective and a noun at times -- no one ever said English was a simple language!!)

These are probably the only two words that I have some confusion with when writing. There are times when the right option seems obvious, but other times when (to me) not so obvious.

So for example, A car drove past/passed. or I can see a car driving past/passed. or In the future, cars will drive past/passed my house.

So here we have the past/present and future tenses. The right word to use here seems to be 'past'.

You're right. This is "past" because it's the preposition -- rephrase it and it's more obvious (if rather awkward...) eg "A car drove beyond the place where I was"

Although if my examples were He passed/past the point of no return. or He will have soon passed/past the point of no return.

The right choice would seem to be 'passed'.

Again you're right. This is "passed" because it's the past tense of the verb, and again if you rephrase it, this is more obvious eg "He went beyond the point of no return"

That help?

 

[Ursa major]

Why is this, and does anyone else have similar issues with these two words?

The real problem comes when one is passed help....

​

 

[farntfar]

But it's good to be past the buck.

 

[paranoid marvin]

You're confusing two different things, pm -- "passed" being the past participle of the verb "to pass" and "past" which is a preposition roughly meaning "beyond" (as well as being an adjective and a noun at times -- no one ever said English was a simple language!!)


You're right. This is "past" because it's the preposition -- rephrase it and it's more obvious (if rather awkward...) eg "A car drove beyond the place where I was"


Again you're right. This is "passed" because it's the past tense of the verb, and again if you rephrase it, this is more obvious eg "He went beyond the point of no return"

That help?

Thanks, as you and Valtharius both explained I was mixing my verbs with my prepositions.