[alsothings]

I cannot get passed the title. Unless the only cold emails the author sent were the ones that got the meetings, s/which/that.

(Actually I did read the article, and in it she says "cold emails produced 7 meetings at Twitter, Klout, LinkedIn", so either she sent 7 cold emails or the title should use 'that' not 'which')

[Udo]

Since we're doing grammar advice:

> I cannot get passed the title

I think, and please correct me if I'm wrong, this should be "I cannot get past the title". :)

A bit of lenience might be in order since the author is from Israel and English may not be her first language (then again, native speakers might not necessarily do better).

[alsothings]

I thought you were right for a second, but I'm fairly certain that 'passed' is what I meant. It's the past tense of pass, and thus the correct word. see http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/past_passed.h... for a good set of examples.

I appreciate that the which/that distinction is tricky, but one is a restrictive clause and the other is not, changing the meaning of the sentence.

[Udo]

That's an interesting take about past/passed. Granted, I'm not really in a position to make good judgement calls about the English language either, but in my opinion it goes like this:

"passed" is something that happens or happened to you, like on the freeway you can say you have been passed by another vehicle.

"past", on the other hand, in this context is a state that refers to your location. Like in, "I'm past the red line". When you have to get past something, your position in relation to that something is expressed by that word.

Intuitively, I'd say that if it's the answer to an imaginary question of "where", it needs to be "past". If it's the answer to another question, like "what happened", it's "passed".

> I appreciate that the which/that distinction is tricky, but one is a restrictive clause and the other is not, changing the meaning of the sentence.

You're right, but I think we have to take non-native speakers into account. Also, the implication that those were the exact same emails doesn't really change with that, it only gets weaker. In my experience, people use that in the same way express a definitive relation. As in "those are the cats that ate the cheeseburgers" I get the impression that a specific set of cats are involved in a specific cheeseburger incident. That doesn't really change if you say "those are the cats who ate the cheeseburgers".

[cyxxon]

The site you linked to explains why "past" is correct IMO:

"To pass often means to move past, and this is where confusion can arise. Of note, to pass can also mean to sail past, to fly past, to run past, to hop past, etc. - the method of moving is irrelevant. This is worth bearing in mind, because if you have used a verb indicating motion already, then it will be partnered with past and not passed."

The verb here would be "get". See the examples at the bottom for use as a preposition.

Or did I now fuck it up again? ;)

[alsothings]

possible, I'm much less sure about my use of passed versus past here then the use of which instead of that in the title. That said, I had thought 'get' did not indicate motion across the sentence here 'passed' did, so passed is correct. But I could totally believe I'm doing it wrong.

[troels]

"Cannot get passed the title" would mean that you are unable to have the title passed to you. Which, I suppose, you can't. But that's nonsense and surely not what you meant.

[mhartl]

You definitely meant [past](http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=*&Query=pas...):

    Past \Past\, prep.
       1. Beyond, in position, or degree; further than; beyond the
          reach or influence of. "Who being past feeling." --Eph.
          iv. 19. "Galled past endurance." --Macaulay.
          [1913 Webster]
    
                Until we be past thy borders.         --Num. xxi.
                                                      22.
          [1913 Webster]
    
                Love, when once past government, is consequently
                past shame.                           --L'Estrange.
          [1913 Webster]