Sneak in/out/past.

[Ashraful Haque]

Please let me know if I've used 'sneak in/out/past' correctly:

Sneak in
1) I'll try sneaking into her room and stealing the diamond. - (I know this is an off-topic but de we use two ing's in a sentence like this? Please ignore this question if you like.)

Sneak out
2) I sneaked out of her room as soon as I had the diamond.

Sneak past/pass
3) I sneak past the enemies./ Just sneak pass the enemies.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

I'll try sneaking into her room and stealing the diamond. :tick:
I sneaked out of her room as soon as I had the diamond. :tick:
I sneak past the enemies.:tick:
Just sneak pass the enemies.:cross:

As always thank you very much. Can you please tell me why the last one's incorrect?

 

[emsr2d2]

As always thank you very much. Can you please tell me why the last one's incorrect?

You misspelt "past" and wrote "pass".

 

[Rollercoaster1]

I think 'I sneaked past the enemies' sounds better. 'I sneak past the enemies' suggests that I regularly do it, and I don't think that the enemies would fail to notice my sneaking, especially when done regularly.

 

[tedmc]

The spelling aside, the sentence could be an imperative.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

The spelling aside, the sentence could be an imperative.

Which sentence?

 

[tedmc]

Which sentence?

Just sneak past the enemies.

 

[emsr2d2]

Just sneak past the enemies.

It can't be anything but an imperative.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think 'I sneaked past the enemies' sounds better. 'I sneak past the enemies' suggests that I regularly do it, and I don't think that the enemies would fail to notice my sneaking, especially when done regularly.

I agree. Unless you're writing in the historical present, using the present simple makes it sound like a regular occurrence.

Side-note: I would use "snuck" as the simple past of "sneak" but I've a feeling I'm in a minority (again!)

 

[GoesStation]

Side-note: I would use "snuck" as the simple past of "sneak" but I've a feeling I'm in a minority (again!)

That's what I use. I think it's more thoroughly implanted over here than in Britain, but I'm sure "snuck" is the preferred past simple and past participle in the United States by a wide margin.

 

[Tarheel]

I think 'I sneaked past the enemies' sounds better. 'I sneak past the enemies' suggests that I regularly do it, and I don't think that the enemies would fail to notice my sneaking, especially when done regularly.

If you're really good at it they won't notice.

 

[Tarheel]

We older people use snuck, but sneaked seems to be gaining in popularity.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

You misspelt "past" and wrote "pass".

I wasn't using the past tense. A friend was playing a horror game and I said- "You don't have to fight, just sneak pass them."
As far as I know 'sneak past' is the past tense e.g. "I sneak past them while they were sleeping."

 

[Ashraful Haque]

I think 'I sneaked past the enemies' sounds better. 'I sneak past the enemies' suggests that I regularly do it, and I don't think that the enemies would fail to notice my sneaking, especially when done regularly.

Is it the same for drive past. For example:
1) I drive past the store everyday.
2) I drove past the store yesterday.

 

[Rover_KE]

Is it the same for "drive past"? For example:
1) I drive past the store every day.
2) I drove past the store yesterday.

Yes.

 

[emsr2d2]

I wasn't using the past tense. A friend was playing a horror game and I said- "You don't have to fight, just sneak pass them."
As far as I know 'sneak past' is the past tense e.g. "I sneak past them while they were sleeping."

The infinitive and present are "sneak". The past simple is "sneaked" or "snuck". "sneak" is never the past tense so your final sentence should be "I sneaked/snuck past them while they were sleeping".

"You don't have to fight, just sneak pass them" is wrong because "pass" is wrong. Your advice should be "Just sneak past them".

 

[Tdol]

I use sneaked, but I like snuck.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

I use sneaked, but I like snuck.

Is it a BrE vs AmE thing? Which one's more used in conversational English?

 

[Tarheel]

Which one is used more often depends, I think, largely on the age of the speaker.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is it a BrE vs AmE thing? Which one's more used in conversational English?

It might be, but there's clearly no agreement even amongst BrE speakers (I use "snuck" but Tdol uses "sneaked"). These things generally depend on what you learnt as a child (there's another one for you - "learnt" vs "learned").
Within my extended family, I would say that "snuck" is more common - that's probably why I use it. In general conversational English, I'm not sure the word crops up enough for me to make a judgement.