Stop is one of the verbs in English which can be followed by a gerund (-ing verb) or infinitive (‘to’ verb). These have distinct meanings, for example I stopped to talk to her is totally different to I stopped talking to her.
So, how do you know whether to use stop doing or stop to do?
Fortunately, although they are easily confused, the difference between stop doing and stop to do is quite simple to understand. Let’s take a look at when you should use each version of the verb.
Is it stop doing or stop to do?
There are clear situations when it is correct to use stop to do vs stop doing.
When to use ‘stop to do’ something
If you stop to do something, it means you pause or end your current activity in order to do something else. For example:
- As I was running I noticed my shoelace was undone, so I stopped to tie it.
- I was eating dinner when the phone range, so I stopped to answer it.
- You’ve been working hard all day; you should stop soon to rest.
You can see that in the first two examples this refers to taking a break and then resuming the initial activity (running and eating dinner). In the third example, it refers to ceasing the activity completely (working).
When to use ‘stop doing’ something
If you stop doing something, it means you discontinue, end, or cease the action. For example:
- I stopped playing tennis because my arm was hurting.
- I stopped smoking 5 years ago and I feel so much healthier now.
- We’ll have to stop shopping when we run out of money.
- Lilly wants to stop working when she is 55 years old.
- I used to be very unfit until I stopped eating junk food.
For more about using ‘used to’ to describe something that happened in the past but has now stopped, see: Used to do vs used to doing.
You can also use this in the structure ‘stop someone (from) doing something’. In this case, it can also mean ‘prevent’, if the action never happened in the first place:
- Adriana should stop her children eating so much candy.
- Someone needs to stop Clive spending so much. He’s going to get into really bad debt.
- The floods stopped them from attending the concert.
- Nothing is going to stop me from achieving my dream.
Combining stop to do and stop doing
It is possible to use both verb forms together in one sentence, for example:
- I stopped running to tie my shoe.
- She stopped ironing to answer the door.
- They’ll have to stop cooking dinner to greet the guests.
Avoiding confusion
It’s important to get the correct verb form in order to avoid confusion.
Going back to the example at the beginning of this article, I stopped to talk to her means that you were being friendly by chatting to someone whereas I stopped talking to her means that you had an argument or disagreement and as a result are no longer communicating with each other. You certainly wouldn’t want to give the wrong impression to your listener in this case.
Stop by, stop in, stop off + to do
While we’re talking about the verb stop, it’s worth mentioning these phrasal verbs which can be used in conjunction with stop to do.
Stop followed by off, in at or by at then an object and an infinitive is used when your journey is interrupted for a brief visit, for example:
- The post office is open today; I need to stop off there to post a letter.
- Let’s stop by at Laura’s house to wish her a happy birthday.
- She stopped in at the library to return her book.
These phrasal verbs may also be used without the infinitive, if the context makes the meaning clear enough:
- We’re having a barbeque in the garden this afternoon, why don’t you stop by?
- I saw there’s a new toy shop open in town. Let’s stop in later.
To sum up
Hopefully now you understand the key difference between stop doing and stop to do. When you stop doing something you cease the action, and when you stop to do something you cease or pause another action to begin doing this one.
This is one of the few cases in English where switching between the gerund and infinitive verb form significantly changes the meaning of the sentence, so it’s a very important difference to understand! The constructions like to do and like doing and try to do and try doing have a much more subtle difference in meaning.
Leave a comment below if you’re still unclear on how to use stop to do vs stop doing correctly, or browse more posts about easily confused words in English.
