Speaker 1: Hey there, it's Michael here from the Happy English podcast,
and welcome to another Saturday short your quick tip for
speaking English naturally. Today, let's clear up something tricky. Stop
doing versus stop to do. These two sound similar, but
they mean totally different things. Let's start with stop doing.
This pattern actually has two meanings. First of all, we
use stop doing when we talk about quitting a habit,
like I stopped smoking when I was twenty five, and
my buddy Jack stopped buying coffee at Starbucks. He's saving
a ton of money. We also use stop doing when
we talk about finishing an activity, like I stopped working.
At eight thirty last night, Jenny said she stopped playing
her guitar when her neighbor complained about the sound. I
guess he doesn't like Metallica. On the other hand, stop
to do means you take a break from something in
order to do something else. Like I stopped to buy
coffee on the way to work. This means I was
walking to the office, I went into the deli, bought coffee,
and continued walking to work. I stopped to buy coffee.
In other words, I stopped walking in order to buy coffee.
My coworker stopped to smoke. This means he took a
cigarette break during work. So remember, stop doing means to
quit or finish doing something. Stop to do means to
take a break in order to do something else. Now
here's a challenge for you. What's something you stopped doing
and what's something you stopped to do recently. These two
phrases are both pretty common in everyday English, so practice
them with your own examples to make them flow out
of your mouth smoothly, and then you're speaking more naturally.
Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next week for
another Saturday Short