After reading this article, you shouldn’t have any issue remembering which is which! Pass time and past time are mixed up with each other often because people aren’t aware of how they are different. For example, pass time is a verb, past time is an adjective followed by a noun, and pastime is a noun. You can also remember the differences between the words by remembering what time of words they are. It is past time that you pass time with your pastime. There is a super easy mnemonic that you can use to remember the differences between these words. It can be hard to keep them apart, but luckily this post is here to help. Remembering the DifferenceĪll three of these phrases get confused with each other very often. Our fundraising campaign has passed the £150,000 mark. a point in time, a physical space, or a set limit or goal): I passed the dog park on the way to work. One major use is to say that we have gone past something (e.g. I learned that her least favorite pastime is hiking. Passed (Past Tense of ‘Pass’) ‘Passed’ is the past tense of the verb ‘pass’ in all of its senses. My friend’s favorite pastimes are fishing and hunting. This is because pass time means spending time doing something and pastime is the activity one does to pass time. Pastime is a noun that describes an activity or hobby that someone does outside of their working hours.Ĭontrary to what you might think, pastime is more closely related to pass time than past time. Pastime is another word that commonly gets mixed up with pass time and past time. She checked her bank account and discovered it was past time for her paycheck to deposit. I’ve decided it’s past time to pick a new hobby, what do you suggest?

I turned in my final project past time, so I will lose points. Where is our pizza? It is way past time for it to be here. Past is acting as the adjective in the phrase to describe the time. The phrase is an adjective that is similar in meaning to past due. Past time means that something should have been done already. One of his favorite ways to pass time is by playing golf. To pass time before the concert, the boys decided to head to the bar for a few drinks. We always used to talk about our day to pass time in the evening. People on a bus will try to pass time by playing games or reading the news. She decided to read to pass time until she had to be at the airport. You are doing something specifically to take up time and make it go by faster. This is because pass time is describing an action that is being done. It is important to remember that “pass time” is used as a verb. For example, when you are bored, you might pass time by scrolling through social media or playing video games. Pass time is used to describe the time that someone spends doing something. Another form that gets mixed up into the confusion is pastime, which is a word to describe an activity or hobby you do. Pass time means to spend your time doing something while past time means that something should’ve been done before. It can be confusing trying to determine which use is correct, but with a little explanation, you won’t have any more problems! Pass time and past time are very commonly confused with each other.

Past vs passed