Improve your English: "I stopped smoking" or "I stopped to smoke"?

Hi, there. My name is Emma, and in today's lesson, we're going to look at a very common

mistake ESL students make. We're going to look at when you have the verb "stopped" and

it's followed by either an infinitive or a gerund. Okay? So before I explain what all

of this means, I'd just like to say thank you to Charles from Venezuela for suggesting

this video on Facebook. Okay? So shout-outs to Charles.

All right, so let's get started. So first of all, what is an infinitive? Well, we're

talking about when we have two verbs. So we have verb 1, okay? We have a second verb,

verb 2. We have a subject, "I", and then we have "to". So if you were thinking of English

as a mathematical formula, it would be subject plus the first verb, in this case "stopped",

plus 2, plus the second verb. Okay? So this is what is known as the infinitive.

Now, down here, I have what's known as a gerund. So a gerund is we have the subject, we have

the first verb, just like above, and we have a second verb. But what you'll notice, first

of all, there's no "to", and secondly, we have "ing". So with gerunds and infinitives,

what we're talking about is you have two verbs. Sometimes a verb, the first verb, is followed

by a second verb with "ing", and sometimes it's followed with a "to" and a second verb.

Okay? So we're going to look at just one verb in this video, "stop", because if we use the

infinitive or if we use the gerund, it changes the meaning.

So let's get started. I have a sentence here, "I stopped to talk." So what does this mean?

Well, I have my friend Bob here. Okay? Now, I'm just going to move over here. I'm walking

down the street, that's my first action, I'm walking, and I stop. So first action, in this

case, I was walking. Second action, I stop. So I stop walking. And third action, I say,

"Hi, Bob." So I talk. Okay? So when you stop to do something, it's more than a single action.

You're doing something, you stop what you're doing, and then you do the second action.

Okay? So we'll go over some more examples with this.

Now, I'd like to compare this to, "I stopped talking." Okay? So same words, the only difference

is here we have "to", here we have "ing". Now, what does this sentence mean? "I stopped

talking." It means I was talking, and then I stopped. I'm not talking anymore. So no

talking. Okay? So let's look at some more examples to understand the difference between

these two sentences.

Okay, so I now have the sentence, "I stopped to smoke." Do you think this is an example

of an infinitive or a gerund? Well, if you notice, we have "to", this is our hint. We're

looking at the infinitive. So we have our subject, "I", our first verb, "stopped",

"to", and our second verb, "smoke". Okay, so what does this mean, "I stopped to smoke"?

Well, it means there's a first action. We don't know exactly what the first action is.

Maybe somebody's walking, maybe somebody's working. So we're just going to guess at this

point. We'll say the first action is somebody is walking. Okay?

The second action is they stop walking. Okay? And the third action is they do this to smoke.

So it's three actions. You're doing something, you stop doing it, and then the reason you

stop doing it is for this purpose, for the third one. So I walk, I stop walking, and

I smoke. This means I stopped to smoke. Okay? So this is different than, "I stopped smoking."

So this is an example of the gerund. We have our "ing". You'll notice the subject, "I",

the first verb, "stopped", and the second verb, "smoking". "ing" is key here.

Okay, so what is the first action? We don't know what the first action is. Or we do, sorry.

The first action is "smoking". Okay? So the first action is what you were originally doing.

The second action is no smoking, so you stop smoking. Okay? Okay, so in this case, I can

draw a picture of a cigarette. If I say, "I stopped smoking", I don't do this anymore.

Okay? So I used to, but not anymore. So I have two more examples. I want you to try

to do this one on your own. "I stopped to ask for directions." Okay? So if you're having

trouble, think what is the first action, what is the second action, and what's the third

action? "I stopped to ask for directions." Okay? So the first action, maybe -- so take

a second. Maybe you're driving. Okay? We commonly say this when we're driving, or you could

be walking. So first action, second action, you stop the first action, and then the third

action, in this case, you ask for directions. Okay?

What about the second sentence? "I stopped asking for directions." What does this mean?

Well, in this case, we have our first action and our second action. The first action is

you used to ask for directions. So you used to maybe go up to people and say, "Where is

the store? Where is the library?" But now, you don't ask for directions anymore. You've

stopped asking for directions. Okay? So we could use "stopped" with many different examples.

"I stopped to eat", meaning I stopped what I was doing, and then I started to eat. Or

we could say, "I stopped eating", meaning I used to eat, but now I don't. So I'm not

suggesting anyone stop eating. "I hope you stop to eat, and you don't stop eating." Okay?

So again, very simple way -- sorry, very simple sentence, but one that's very easy to mix

up and to confuse.

Now, I've had a lot of students tell me that they've had these types of questions on different

tests. So be aware that this might be a way your grammar teacher or your ESL teacher might

want to try to trick you on a test. They might use a question like this to see if you know

your gerunds and your infinitives. Okay? So I invite you to come visit our website at

www.engvid.com. We will have a whole bunch of -- we'll have more examples of this in

our test, so you can see if you really understand the difference between "stopped" with infinitive

and "stopped" with the gerund. Okay? So until next time, take care.