The phrasal verb pass on can mean to give something to someone that you have received from someone else. You can pass on something which is infectious like a virus or disease. When you talk about giving something to your children through your genes you can use pass on so for example you could pass on your bad eyesight or pass on a high likelihood of developing breast cancer. In a business context, you can talk about passing on the cost of something, meaning to make the customer or the person buying from you pay the cost of something. If you pass someone on to someone else you transfer someone to another person who can help them with their problem or give them the information they are looking for. To pass on information is to tell someone else something after you have heard it. Pass on is also a polite expression to talk about death and dying so instead of saying he died you can say he passed on and it sounds more polite and sensitive. When you give something to someone after you are dead you can say you have passed it on, so you might say 'my grandmother passed on her wedding ring to the eldest in the family', for example. To pass on something can also mean to decline an offer so for example if someone invites you for dinner and you don't want to go you could say I'm sorry but I'll have to pass on that for this evening.

1. I was very sorry to hear that Paul's mother had passed on. He must be devastated.
2. Please pass the book on to Anna when you're finished with it. I promised she could have it after you.
3. I think my nephew passed his stomach bug on to me. I feel dreadful!
4. This writing desk has been passed on through three generations of my family.
5. The advantages of having a genetic test done are in finding out which genes have been passed on to you from your parents.

1. Please ensure that any new information is passed on to Jenny as soon as possible. As the project manager, she needs to be kept in the loop at all times. 
2. The crux of the issue is: do we pass on these costs to the consumer or are we able to absorb them in some way?
3. The new regulations control what personal information can be passed on to third-party companies.