Passed or past: which is correct?
Correct
passed (past tense of pass) / past (earlier time; beyond)
Avoid
past (as the verb: "she past the exam")
Avoid
passed (as the preposition: "walked passed the shop")
Summary
Correct: passed (past tense of pass) / past (earlier time; beyond) — Avoid: past (as the verb: "she past the exam") / passed (as the preposition: "walked passed the shop"). Passed = the past tense of the verb pass (went by, succeeded, handed over); past = a time gone by (noun), earlier (adjective) or beyond (preposition and adverb).
- Part of speech
- verb / noun, adjective, preposition
- Source
- Oxford
Why
Oxford: passed is only ever the past tense of the verb pass; past is never a verb. If the sentence needs a verb ("she ___ the exam"), the word is passed; after a verb of motion ("walked ___ the shop"), the word is past.
Examples
- She passed the exam on her first attempt.
- We walked past the old station.
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- Merriam-Webster / Oxford
- Spelling authority
- Merriam-Webster · Oxford English Dictionary / Oxford spelling · SCOWL
- Commonly confused and non-standard forms
- 64
- Dictionary
- Hunspell en_US / en_GB / en_AU / en_CA · Dictionary license: MIT AND BSD (SCOWL combined licence)