Heather 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 just
like to thank say thank you to Charles
from Venezuela for suggesting this video
on Facebook okay so shout outs to
Charles alright 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 to we
have a subject I and then we have two so
if you were thinking of English as a
mathematical formula it would be subject
plus the first verb in this case stopped
plus two 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 two and
secondly we have ing so with churns 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 two 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 stopped so first action in
this case I was walking second action
I stopped so I stopped 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 two 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 - and
our second verb smoked 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 get
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 stopped smoking okay okay so in this
case you can draw a picture of a
cigarette if I say I stop 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 may be so take a
second maybe your
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 in our second action the
first action is you used to ask for
directions so you used to maybe I 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 stop 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 and so I'm not suggesting anyone
stop eating I hope you stopped 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 away 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 gerron's
and your infinitives okay so I invite
you to come visit our website at
wwlp.com we will have a whole bunch of
we'll have more examples of this in our
tests so you can see if you really
understand the difference between
stopped with infinitive and stop with
the gerund okay so until next time take
care