Past / Passed

luckystrike | 06:33 Fri 21st Mar 2008 | Phrases & Sayings

9 Answers

Which is correct:

I walked past the post office

or

I walked passed the post office

Easter Eggs

competition help please

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beejay1124

first one

Naomicorlett

I walked past the post office .

Quizmonster

'Passed' is the past tense/participle of the verb 'pass'...just to put the two forms in the same sentence! Present tense, "I pass the house every day." Past tense, "I passed the house yesterday."
The word 'past' may be a) a noun..."It's no good living in the past"...b) an adjective..."Old people love to talk about past times"...c) a preposition..."Those days are past now"...d) an adverb..."He put a lot of money past in order to realise his dream."

toby99

Where is EnglishTeach when you need him/her - I would have to say passed.

Quizmonster

The first two responses above were correct. The third - mine - was simply an attempt to put some flesh on the bones, as it were, by illustrating how the two words, past/passed, worked. It seems that was not enough, so here's some more.
An adverb qualifies - ie tells a little more about - a verb. Thus, in 'He walked slowly', 'slowly' tells us how he walked. In 'He walked under the ladder', 'under' tells us where he walked.
In exactly the same way, in 'He walked past the post office' , 'past' tells us where he walked, so 'past' here is an adverb. The same thought could be expressed purely verbally without an adverb just by saying, 'He passed the post office'.
So, 'He walked past the post office' is correct and 'He walked passed the post office' is a non-starter!