Okay, nothing spiritual or controversial or even biblical here. Just a grammar question. Maybe someone smarter than me can help me out here.
I was considering the question, "How do we get past this?" I ran into a problem. Is it "past" or "passed". Now, I understand that "past" refers to time and "passed" is the past tense (ironic, isn't it?) of "pass", referring primarily to geography or location. Even if the quarterback "passed the ball", he moved its location. "Passed" in that instance is correct. So what about our idiom, "to get past something"? "The poor woman couldn't get past her divorce." Or "The poor woman couldn't get passed her divorce"?
I can see the arguments for both versions. You might "get past something" by putting it behind you in time, essentially. Whatever it is, it's "in the past." That works. Or it might be that you're thinking of locale, where "getting passed something" means "moving on."
I've looked online for input and found multiple sources with multiple answers, all adamant and certain. I'm not. Maybe either one could be correct? Does anyone have any helpful insight on this word puzzle?
7 comments:
So, I wrote this whole paragraph about past versus passed. Before I posted it I thought I'd check the dictionary. Both are correct. Part of one of the definitions of pass included past, and both had a very similar definition about getting from one point (or state in this case) to another. Grammatically, both would appear correct and would come down to personal preference. Isn't English grand?
That's what I found, too. I guess I won't call the improper use of "passed" vs "past" a mortal sin, then?
I have always written "past this," but I claim no expertise.
How about just going with "get beyond this", or some other variant? Just a thought.
Oh, sure, I can get around it. I was just wondering if there was a "right way" for it? But English isn't a book of rules, right?
Not anymore it isn't. Everything can mean anything you want it to mean.
Heh heh. "Book of rules".
I haven't looked up the "rules" for this word, but it occurred to me (for some reason) that to "get passed" an issue means one is trying "to pass" it so as to move on from it. Thus, "passed" is IMHO the right word to use. The only snag is whether or not the "past tense" of "pass" can be spelled either way. If this is the case, then I would have to assume that the fact of their being the two options is of recent development, likely due to the confusion being so common that the "rules" have changed.
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