Meaning & use
pass
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To go by or move beyond something or someone without stopping, or to travel through a place.
Grammar: Takes an object when you go by something: pass the bank; no object when you just move on: the bus passed.
Patterns
- pass something
- pass by
- pass through something
We passed a small bakery on the way to the station.
A cyclist passed me on the hill without a sound.
The train passes through three tunnels before it reaches the coast.
verbtransitive
To hand something to another person or send it from one person to another.
Grammar: Often has two objects: pass me the salt, or pass the salt to me.
Patterns
- pass something to someone
- pass someone something
- pass something on
Could you pass the pepper, please?
She passed the message to her manager.
He passed the ball to a teammate just before the whistle.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To reach the required standard in a test, course or inspection.
Grammar: Takes an object for the test itself: pass the exam; with no object, it stands alone: everyone passed.
Patterns
- pass a test
- pass an inspection
- pass with distinction
Maya passed her driving test on the first attempt.
Only half of the class passed.
The old bridge did not pass the safety inspection.
verbintransitive
To go by, as hours, days or years do.
Grammar: The subject is a period of time and there is no object: the summer passed quickly.
Patterns
- time passes
- hours pass
The afternoon passed slowly while we waited for news.
Years passed before they met again.
verbtransitive
To formally approve a law, proposal or bill by voting for it.
Grammar: The object is the rule or bill: the council passed the budget.
Patterns
- pass a law
- pass a bill
- pass a resolution
Parliament passed the new housing law late on Tuesday.
The committee passed the proposal by a narrow vote.
nouncountable
A document or ticket that lets its holder enter a place or use a service, or a narrow route through mountains.
Grammar: Countable: a bus pass, two passes, a mountain pass.
Patterns
- a pass for something
- a pass through something
Visitors must show a pass at the gate.
She bought a monthly bus pass.
The pass was blocked by snow until April.
Word forms
| third person singular | passes |
|---|---|
| past tense | passed |
| past participle | passed |
| -ing form | passing |
| plural noun | passes |
Common combinations
- pass an exam
- He studied for weeks to pass the exam.
- pass the time
- We played cards to pass the time at the airport.
- pass a law
- The government passed a law banning plastic bags.
- pass away
- Her grandfather passed away last spring.
- season pass
- I bought a season pass for the swimming pool.
- pass the ball
- He passed the ball across the field.
Synonyms and how they differ
- overtake
- Overtake is used only for getting ahead of a moving vehicle or runner, while pass also covers simply going by something that is still.
- hand
- Hand is narrower, because it means giving something with your own hand, whereas pass can describe a longer chain of people.
- approve
- Approve is the wider word for agreeing to something, while pass is used for the formal vote that turns a bill into law.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: pass or past?
pass vs past
Past is a noun, adjective or preposition about earlier time or position, while pass is the verb: we walked past the shop, and we passed the shop.
Practice
The road was closed, so the drivers could not ___ through the village.
Choose one answer.
After could not, a base-form verb is needed, so pass fits. Past is not a verb, and passed or passing would not follow a modal.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pass”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.