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 #2 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:39 am stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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The two phrases are quite different.
"Stop smoking" means that a person is smoking, and they stop. Often it's an idiom meaning to stop smoking altogether, that is to give up the habit of smoking. It could also be a command, (You) stop smoking!
"Stop to smoke" means a person was doing something, then they stopped whatever they were doing to smoke.
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 Skrej
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| #3 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:44 am stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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| EFL teacher wrote: |
| Can the second one have more than one meaning depending on the context??? |
Since you put ??? to the end of your sentence, I'd share with you a very rare and unnatural context to give it more than one meaning.
At last, he put a stop to smoke. = At last, he stopped smoking. |
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Haihao
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| #4 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:36 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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| Haihao wrote: |
| At last, he put a stop to smoke. = At last, he stopped smoking. |
This isn't right, Haihao. It would have to be, "He put a stop to smoking."
Your example sounds as if the person somehow stopped all factories from putting smoke in the air and polluting it.
The expression "stop to smoke" does not have two meanings. As Skrej said, it means to stop another activity in order to smoke. For example, "After he had worked for an hour, he stopped to smoke." |
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Jamie (K)
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| #5 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 13:05 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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In addition to what Jamie wrote, 'he put a stop to smoking' suggests that he caused others to stop smoking -- possibly by making this activity illegal, for example.
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Yankee
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| #6 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 13:06 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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| Haihao wrote: |
| At last, he put a stop to smoke. = At last, he stopped smoking. |
And you can also say put paid to smoking which is a more exquizit expression, in my opinion |
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Lost_Soul
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| #7 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 13:11 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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| lost_soul wrote: |
| Haihao wrote: |
| At last, he put a stop to smoke. = At last, he stopped smoking. |
And you can also say put paid to smoking which is a more exquizit expression, in my opinion |
Huh? I can't understand that expression. |
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Jamie (K)
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| #8 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 13:21 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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| I agree with the sentence "He put a stop to smoking" because "smoking" means the act whereas "smoke" would mean the object (cigarrete). |
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Abraaocoutinho
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| #9 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 13:39 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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Cigarette
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Mister Micawber
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| #10 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 13:40 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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| abraaocoutinho wrote: |
| I agree with the sentence "He put a stop to smoking" because "smoking" means the act whereas "smoke" would mean the object (cigarrete). |
"He put a stop to smoke," isn't a sentence we would use in English, and if it somehow were used, "smoke" wouldn't mean the cigarette. It would mean actual smoke, from some other source. |
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Jamie (K)
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| #11 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 13:51 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| lost_soul wrote: |
| And you can also say put paid to smoking which is a more exquizit expression, in my opinion |
Huh? I can't understand that expression. |
I was thinking of this expression:
To put paid to something - To stop something
It's time we put paid to his criminal activities.
So, this expression does not work with smoking, then ?
PS: I just looked it up in a dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/put+paid+to
It says that it is used chiefly in the UK. |
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Lost_Soul
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| #12 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 13:59 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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To "put paid to something" would not be understood in North America. I had never heard it in my life, and it didn't make any sense to me. It wouldn't work with any verb at all.
Note that your source lists it as "(British and Australian)". It doesn't say CHIEFLY British and Australian, but just "British and Australian". This is a good indication that the phrase is not international English and is understood only by a minority of native speakers. |
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Jamie (K)
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| #13 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 15:53 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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Hi Alex
I'd never heard that expression before either.
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Yankee
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| #14 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 15:59 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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Well, as they say, there's first time for everything :)
Thank you for sharing your ideas, now I'm more aware of British v.s. American English differences |
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Lost_Soul
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| #15 (permalink) Mon Jul 14, 2008 23:22 pm stop smoking vs. stop to smoke |
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| lost_soul wrote: |
| It says that it is used chiefly in the UK. |
Yes; usually, in BrE, "put paid to" implies satisfaction at the outcome, on the speaker's part (though it can be used ironically to imply the opposite).
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| At versus In (She gave birth to twins at/in a hospital in the French Riviera.) | To get in one's blood |
