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Past vs Ago - What's the difference?

past | ago |

As adjectives the difference between past and ago

is that past is having already happened; in the past; finished while ago is gone; gone by; gone away; passed; passed away.

As prepositions the difference between past and ago

is that past is beyond in place, quantity or time while ago is in the past.

As a noun past

is the period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.

As an adverb past

is in a direction that passes.

past

English

(wikipedia past)

Noun

(en noun)
  • The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
    • a book about a time machine that can transport people back into the past
  • * D. Webster
    • The past , at least, is secure.
  • * Trench
    • The present is only intelligible in the light of the past , often a very remote past indeed.
  • (grammar) The past tense.

    • Derived terms

    (Terms derived from the noun "past") * blast from the past * in the past * past anterior * past continuous * past historic * past participle * past perfect * past progressive * past simple * past tense * simple past

    See also

    * preterite

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having already happened; in the past; finished.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=7 citation , passage=The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.}}
  • (postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago.
  • * 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 538:
    • That had been, what, three years past ?
  • * 2009 , , Glencoe , Amberley 2009, p. 20:
    • Some four decades past , as a boy, I had a chance encounter and conversation with the late W.A. Poucher [...].
  • Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 23, work=(The Guardian), author=Angelique Chrisafis
    • , title=François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election citation , passage=Sarkozy's total will be seen as a personal failure. It is the first time an outgoing president has failed to win a first-round vote in the past 50 years and makes it harder for Sarkozy to regain momentum.}}
  • (grammar) Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state.

    • Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • in a direction that passes
    • I watched him walk past

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • beyond in place, quantity or time
    • the room past mine
    count past twenty
    past midnight
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=April 22 , author=Sam Sheringham , title=Liverpool 0-1 West Brom , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=But they were stunned when Glen Johnson's error let in Peter Odemwingie to fire past Pepe Reina on 75 minutes.}}

    Usage notes

    * The preposition past is used to tell the time. The time 5:05 is said as five past five. 5:10 as ten past five. 5:15 as quarter past five. 5:20 as twenty past five. 5:25 as twenty-five past five. 5:30 as half past five. If we are aware of the approximate time, we can just use e.g. five past, ten past etc. See the example below. *: I thought it was about six o'clock, but it was actually ten past . * Compare with to (five to, ten to, quarter to, twenty to, twenty-five to) * See also: o'clock

    Related terms

    * past master * past it

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    ago

    English

    Alternative forms

    * ygo (obsolete), ygoe (obsolete), agon (obsolete), agone

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (archaic, or, dialectal) Gone; gone by; gone away; passed; passed away.
    • in days ago'''/in days '''agone
  • (archaic, or, dialectal) Nearly gone; dead (used in )''

    • Usage notes

    * Usually follows the noun.

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • In the past.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Damned if you don’t , passage=Two years ago a pair of scientists sparked fears of a devastating virus. [They] separately found ways to make a strain of bird flu called H5N1 more contagious. Critics fretted that terrorists might use this knowledge to cook up a biological weapon. American officials ordered that the papers be redacted. Further research was put on hold. But after much debate, the papers were published in full last year.}}

    Derived terms

    * long ago

    See also

    * (projectlink)

    References

    * G. A. Cooke, The County of Devon

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English postpositions English three-letter words 1000 English basic words ----