Is It Fast Pace or Fast Paced? Which is Correct?

Describing time and speed in English is a tricky subject. There are a lot of rules when it comes to when to use adjectives, and if they are being put in the right place. Face pace and fast-paced are two words that are a part of this problem, so which one is correct?

Both fast pace and fast-paced are correct, but it depends on how you’re using them. They’re both adjectives being used to describe speed, but they describe them in varying ways. For example, fast-paced is used to describe the state of being fast while fast pace is used to describe a time period that is fast. One describes an environment, and one describes time.

The rest of this article will cover what face-paced means, and what face pace means.

What Fast-Paced Means

There is a slight difference between fast-paced and fast pace, and to explain it, we’ll have to look at how they’re both used in sentences. For starters, fast-paced is an adjective you can use to describe environments or states of mind. Like this: “her thoughts were fast-paced.”

Another example of how they’re different is that fast-paced needs a hyphen while fast pace does not. So, when using the two, use a hyphen for fast-paced. To summarize, you should use fast-paced to describe environments and states, and fast pace to describe periods of time.

Here’s an example of fast-paced being used to describe an environment: “The company was full of life, making it feel like a fast-paced workplace.”

In this instance, you can see fast-paced is being used to describe the workplace, which is why fast pace wouldn’t work.

What Face Pace Means

Unlike fast-paced, fast pace describes a quick step, not a place or environment. It’s an adjective you can use to describe a simple noun rather than a complex area or state. For example, you can say you’re doing work at a fast pace.

In that example, you can’t say you’re doing work at a fast-paced. It doesn’t make sense. Look at the sentence again, only with fast-paced instead: “I’m doing work at a fast-paced.” The past tense form of “pace” doesn’t fit there since fast-paced describes environments.

Also, let’s take the first sentence from the first section. “Her thoughts were fast-paced.” If you change this to mean a period of time, you can use fast pace instead. Here’s an example: “Her thoughts were moving at a fast pace.”