Deep and crisp and even ?

[venta]

Not fair! Not fair!
Last night, driving to Thame from work, I got a call from Andy telling me it was snowing in Cambridge.
Once I'd got home, I had a chat with Samantha and she told me that they had proper, settling snow up in Leicestershire.

This morning there was a bit of frost on my car.

And now I'm in work, skimming quickly over my friends' page. And all the Cambridge people have snow. And nalsa up in Leeds has snow, and sushidog is waxing lyrical about how pretty her snow is, and dammit it's not fair!

Where's my snow ?

I started in Oxford this morning, and drove across a chunk of Oxfordshire and a small sliver of Berkshire to get to my office in Reading - and not a flake to be seen anywhere.

<sulks>

Comments

[neilh.livejournal.com]

Not all us Cambridge folk...I checked out the window when I saw someone reporting snow in cambridge, I'd put it down as a work of fiction until I woke this morning to bright sunshine with little white patches behind each hedge I walked past (passed?) on the way to the office.

[taimatsu]

I walked past the hedges. I passed the hedges. The snow is in the past. Time has passed since then. Someone passed me a snowball.

Erm. Sorry. I, er, do grammar. Ignore me if it's annoying rather than helpful.

[neilh.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure its considerably more clear now, but at least I now know they're not interchangable, so I'll continue happy in the thought that I'm getting some other grammar wrong too.

[taimatsu]

The main rule is that 'passed' is a form of the verb 'to pass'. 'past' is not.

So:
Most days I pass the newsagent - actually, I passed it yesterday.
She asked him to pass the peas - he passed them promptly.
Did you pass your exam? Yes, I passed it.

'Past' can refer to 'the past', things which have happened ('In the past, people thought the earth was flat').

It can also refer to something which you have passed, in the sense of moving alongside and then ahead of something.

I went for a walk; I walked down the road, hurried past the rubbish dump, and passed the pub on the corner.

The difference is the verb, but at this time of night and not having properly stufdied English to get the right terminology, I can't explain the difference. Basically, if you use the verb 'I pass something', instead of I hurry, I walk, whatever, then you use 'I passed'. IF you use another verb, like I run, I jog, I hurry, and you want to express going past something, you use 'past'.

Enough! Sorry :)

[neilh.livejournal.com]

I *think* thats a bit clearer, until next time I try to use it, then I'll just use a different word instead to save myself having to remember...