Phrasal verbs with pass

A large number of phrasal verbs use the word pass. The most common among them are given below.

Pass away

To pass away is to die.

  • My grandmother passed away last week after a prolonged battle with cancer.

Pass as / pass for

To pass for someone/something is to be accepted (often wrongly) as being a particular type of person of thing. The phrasal verb pass as also means the same.

  • She is nearly forty-five, but she could easily pass for thirty. (= She could easily be accepted as a thirty-year old woman.)

Pass by

To pass by someone/something is to go past.

  • We passed by a super market.
  • As I passed by her window, I heard her speaking on the phone.
  • Somebody passed by the window, but I couldn’t see their face.

If something passes you by, you fail to notice it.

  • ‘Did you notice that weird expression on her face?’ ‘No, it completely passed me by.

If something passes you by, you fail to take advantage of the opportunities it offers.

  • I have always felt that life is just passing me by. I wish I could do something more worthwhile.

Pass on

To pass something on is to give someone something that someone else has given you.

  • Could you please pass this message on to Peter?
  • Could you please pass the salt?
  • When your kids outgrow their clothes, you could pass them on to someone else who might need them.

Pass on can also mean ‘to transmit an infection’.

  • If your daughter is down with flu, don’t send her to school. Otherwise, she will pass on the virus to everyone in her class.
  • When the price of raw materials increases, manufacturers almost always pass the extra costs on to the consumer.