Answer:
Past vs. Passed
This pair is among the most notorious of homonyms and are regularly–and incorrectly–swapped. To make the confusion worse, not only do the two words sound similar, they are often used in similar situations. “Past” is a noun, adjective, and adverb, and “passed” is generally used as a verb or adjective. To determine the use and meaning, examine the rest of the sentence: read it “in context”.
Noun: “In the past, television had much fewer commercials.”
Adjective: “Over the past week, Bob has really helped out.”
Verb: “The red car passed the blue car,” or “Because he studied homonyms all night, Fred passed his English test.”
“The time for action is in the past.”
“The time for action has passed.”
