ESEN
Which one to use?Intermediateinfinitivegerund
Stop + tovsStop + -ing
'Stop to do' = pause in order to do something else; 'stop doing' = cease doing something.
Side-by-side comparison
Stop + to
infinitive"Stop + gerund" means to cease doing something permanently or temporarily: "She stopped smoking" = she quit smoking.
On the way home she stopped to buy flowers for her mum's birthday.
He stopped to read the notice on the door before going inside the building.
We stopped to take a few photos at the viewpoint, the view was absolutely incredible.
Stop + -ing
gerund"Stop + infinitive" means to pause what you are doing in order to do something else: "She stopped to smoke" = she paused to have a cigarette.
She stopped biting her nails when she started painting them, a very effective trick.
The doctor told him to stop drinking coffee if he wanted to sleep better at night.
Can you stop tapping your foot? It is quite distracting when I am trying to focus.
Common mistake
- •The typical error: "He stopped to smoke" = he stopped (what he was doing) in order to smoke (purpose: he started smoking).
- •"He stopped smoking" = he gave up smoking (the action he abandoned was smoking).
- •They are opposites: the first implies he still smokes after the pause; the second, that he no longer smokes.
Trick to remember it
- •The definitive question: is the mentioned action what STARTS happening after the pause? = STOP + TO.
- •Is the mentioned action what IS BEING ABANDONED? = STOP + -ING.
- •"He stopped TO eat" = started eating after the pause.
- •"He stopped EATING" = gave up eating (eating is what was abandoned).
Quick rule
- •STOP + TO + infinitive = pause (from whatever) in order to do the infinitive action (purpose).
- •STOP + -ING = cease the gerund action (giving it up).
- •"Stopped to eat" = paused to eat.
- •"Stopped eating" = gave up eating.
Did you know?
STOP is the most elegant example of why the gerund/infinitive distinction matters in English. "The doctor stopped to prescribe medication" and "The doctor stopped prescribing medication" have radically opposite meanings, and the only morphological difference is TO vs -ING. Corpus linguists have found that the most frequent verbs appearing with STOP + -ING in real English are: "stop working," "stop trying," "stop taking," "stop using," and "stop doing." Those appearing with STOP + TO include: "stop to think," "stop to look," "stop to consider," and "stop to check." This distribution shows that STOP TO frequently pairs with cognitive verbs (think, look, consider), while STOP -ING pairs with more concrete habits and processes.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
She stopped _____ on the way home to grab some milk.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
He stopped _____ coffee after his doctor told him it was affecting his sleep.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
GerundvsInfinitive
Some verbs take a gerund (-ing), others take an infinitive (to + verb), and some take both with different meanings.
Try + tovsTry + -ing
'Try to do' = attempt to do something; 'try doing' = experiment by doing something to see if it works.
Verb + tovsVerb + -ing
'Remember/forget/regret' + 'to' = the action is future or pending; + '-ing' = the action already happened in the past.
AvsAn
'A' is used before consonant sounds; 'an' is used before vowel sounds.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy