Stopped to shine and stopped shining?

[Pita]

Test No. incompl/inter-21 "The two Butter Frogs", question 4

The weather was perfect and the sun never ..........

(a) stopped to shine
(b) stopped to burn
(c) stopped shining
(d) stopped shone

Test No. incompl/inter-21 "The two Butter Frogs", answer 4

The weather was perfect and the sun never stopped shining.

Correct answer: (c) stopped shining

Your answer was: correct
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Hi dears! Why "stopped to shine" doesn't fit in here?
thank you
Pita

[Torsten]

Hi Pita,

Please take a look at these examples:

When Mike saw his old friend Tom he stopped to talk to him. (this means, Mike stopped walking so he could talk to Tom.)

When Mike entered the room Tom stopped talking. (this means, Tom was talking and when Mike entered the room Tom went silent.)

So, obviously the Sun didn't stop moving around in the universe but it stopped shining.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[casafon]

Hi,
the matter is clear to me: some verbs (stop etc.) have to be followed by an -ing, whereas others (want) are followed by a "to". My problem is: is there any grammar rule to know which one needs which one? Or is in this case the very reason for stop to be followed by -ing that it could otherwise be confused with the meaning of stop as "stop moving"?
Was my question clear enough?

[Yankee]

Hi casafon

When the word 'to' follows the verb 'stop', it indicates a purpose or reason. In other words, the word 'to' means 'in order to':

- He stopped (in order) to tie his shoe.--> The reason he stopped was to tie his shoe.
- He stopped at a gas station (in order) to fill up. --> He stopped at the gas station so that he could fill the tank with gas.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English