past

> passed and past
passed and past are liable to be confused. Passed is the past participle and past tense of the verb "to pass", as in "She has already passed the exam" and "They passed an old man on the way". Past is used as a noun, as in "He was a difficult teenager but that is all in the past now" and "He has a murky past". It is also used as an adjective, as in "I haven't seen him in the past few weeks" and "Her past experiences affected her opinion of men". Past can also be a preposition, as in "We drove past their new house", "It's past three o'clock" and "He's past caring". It can also be an adverb, as in "He watched the athletes running past" and "The boat drifted past".