Passed or Past

[MyPantsAreGreen]

My daughter loves designing notebook covers with slogans.

Which is correct?

"Follow your dreams past/passed mountains, past/passed deserts, past/passed rivers"

We've fallen out - I am thinking "passed" she says "past" !

[tessiegirl]

[ChoccyBiccyTastic]

You've all got it wrong. Follow is somebody's name.

"Follow, your dreams passed mountains... all by themselves..."

[daisypond]

Past. The trick is, can you replace the word with another of a similar type? Instead of past, try over or across - all prepositions. Does it make grammatical sense? Yes. Passed is past tense of the verb to pass. Replace it with another past tense verb eg, traversed, went. Does it make grammatical sense? No.

[PurpleDaisies]

It should be 'passed'

You keep saying this Tessie and it doesn’t make it any less wrong. Aren’t you reading the thread?

[eurochick]

Your daughter's right. It's definitely past.

[Secretlifeofme]

It's definitely 'past'. In your sentence, 'follow' is the verb. 'Past' is a preposition.

[tessiegirl]

It should be 'passed'

[driftingcloud]

The phrase is a bit ambiguous. Could she not just write Follow your dreams over mountains, across deserts, through rivers etc!!

Sorry to be a pain.

[Danglingmod]

Yep, your daughter is right.

As others said, follow is the verb and past is a preposition... Replace past with below, around, under, beyond, above... (OK, not perfect semantic sense but all grammatically correct)... They're prepositions.

[PurpleDaisies]

Are you going to admit your error to your daughter op?

[64sNewName]

Honestly, OP, “past” is perfectly correct in the first example slogan you gave.

Not sure what you mean by no verb? “Follow” is the verb.

[PurpleDaisies]

I think past on its own isn't right as there is no verb for the movement included

Follow is the verb

[mamma2016]

Follow is the verb in her sentence. She's using 'past' as a preposition. I think she's correct.

[64sNewName]

Ah, I missed her earlier post! Sorry all.

OP, I hope somehow you can make sense of all this.

[MyPantsAreGreen]

I am thinking, "Follow your dreams (is present tense) so there are two alternatives.

Follow your dreams walking past mountains etc

Follow your dreams passing mountains etc

I think past on its own isn't right as there is no verb for the movement included and actually I was wrong too because "passed" would be the past tense!

So confusing!!

[PurpleDaisies]

64 earlier in the thread she says passed as the answer.

[64sNewName]

I read it as her saying that you should use the verb “passed” to describe yourself travelling past mountains. And that is actually true! “I passed the mountain as I travelled north” etc.

But it isn’t what the OP’s daughter should be using, so it’s a confusing reply

[ColeHawlins]

OP's now reading this squabble with a face of

[ColeHawlins]

I think tessie does get it (she used “past” properly herself in her own post) - she’s just explained it a bit confusingly.

She used it correctly and then immediately gave the wrong answer

[PurpleDaisies]

I think tessie does get it (she used “past” properly herself in her own post) - she’s just explained it a bit confusingly.

She doesn’t. She said to use “passed”.

[64sNewName]

I think tessie does get it (she used “past” properly herself in her own post) - she’s just explained it a bit confusingly.

[ColeHawlins]

Is she describing mountains in the past? Then could be 'past.
However if she us travelling past mountains it should be the verb 'to pass which would be 'passed'

No @tessiegirl - "past" isn't only temporal.

"I walked past the newsagent on the way to the bank.", for example is correct usage.

So is "I passed the newsagent on the way to the bank."

[PurpleDaisies]

However if she us travelling past mountains it should be the verb 'to pass which would be 'passed'

This is incorrect.

[64sNewName]

She is right. “Passed” is a verb. “Past” in the way you’d be using it here is a preposition.

“I passed a cake shop”

“I walked past a cake shop”

[tessiegirl]

Is she describing mountains in the past? Then could be 'past.
However if she us travelling past mountains it should be the verb 'to pass which would be 'passed'