Gerund (V-ing) vs. Infinitive (To V) – English Grammar Exercises for B1
Confiding in your close group of friends about your firm decision to stop drinking soda and sugary beverages to protect your health. Choose the best option (A, B, C, or D) to complete each sentence. Read the context carefully. Keep in mind that you are announcing the complete end of a past habit.
1 Guys, I have finally decided to stop ________ soda every single day.
(A) to drink
(B) drink
(C) drinking
(D) to drinking
2 You know how much I loved cola, but I really had to stop ________ those giant bottles.
(A) buying
(B) to buy
(C) buy
(D) bought
3 My dentist looked at my teeth and told me to stop ________ so much sugar.
(A) consume
(B) consuming
(C) to consume
(D) to consuming
4 I used to wake up and immediately grab a can, but I’ve stopped ________ that.
(A) to do
(B) done
(C) do
(D) doing
5 My stomach feels so much better since I stopped ________ fizzy drinks with every meal.
(A) having
(B) have
(C) to have
(D) to having
6 It was incredibly hard the first few days; I just couldn’t stop ________ about a cold can of soda.
(A) think
(B) thinking
(C) to think
(D) thought
7 I realized I had to stop ________ excuses for my unhealthy lifestyle.
(A) to make
(B) make
(C) making
(D) to making
8 My doctor warned me last month: “You must stop ________ your health, or you’ll get diabetes.”
(A) ignore
(B) ignored
(C) to ignore
(D) ignoring
9 I have completely stopped ________ sodas from the vending machine at work.
(A) getting
(B) get
(C) to get
(D) gotten
10 Because of my new diet, I also had to stop ________ extra sugar to my morning coffee.
(A) to add
(B) adding
(C) add
(D) added
11 I strongly recommend that you guys stop ________ your money on those toxic energy drinks.
(A) wasting
(B) to waste
(C) waste
(D) to wasting
12 I’ve even stopped ________ soda in my fridge so I won’t be tempted at midnight.
(A) keep
(B) to keep
(C) keeping
(D) kept
13 Have you ever tried to stop ________ artificial sweeteners? It’s tougher than it looks!
(A) to consume
(B) consume
(C) consuming
(D) consumed
14 Honestly, my body just stopped ________ sugar after about two weeks of detox.
(A) crave
(B) to craving
(C) to crave
(D) craving
15 I finally stopped ________ myself the lie that “just one can won’t hurt.”
(A) to tell
(B) tell
(C) telling
(D) told
16 We all need to stop ________ our bodies like trash cans.
(A) treating
(B) to treat
(C) treat
(D) to treating
17 My skin looks so much clearer since I stopped ________ my system with sugary fluids.
(A) to poison
(B) poison
(C) poisoning
(D) poisoned
18 You shouldn’t suddenly stop ________ everything you love, but cutting out liquid sugar is a great start.
(A) eating
(B) eat
(C) to eat
(D) to eating
19 I promise you, once you stop ________ on sugar for energy, you will feel amazing.
(A) to rely
(B) rely
(C) relied
(D) relying
20 If we want to live longer, we must immediately stop ________ our long-term health for temporary sweetness.
(A) sacrificing
(B) sacrifice
(C) to sacrifice
(D) sacrificed
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (C)
- Why it is correct (The Key): “Stop + V-ing” means to quit a habit or cease an action. The speaker is quitting the habit of drinking soda.
- Error Analysis: (A) “To drink” means you stop whatever you are doing in order to drink soda (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (B) Bare infinitive is grammatically incorrect after “stop” (Common Mistake). (D) Mixing the infinitive marker “to” with a gerund is invalid (Structural Error).
2 (A)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The habit being broken is buying giant bottles, so the gerund (buying) is required.
- Error Analysis: (B) “To buy” implies stopping on the way home specifically to purchase the bottles, which contradicts the context of giving it up (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (C) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (D) Past tense verb cannot follow “stop” (Structural Error).
3 (B)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The dentist is advising the patient to break the habit of consuming sugar.
- Error Analysis: (A) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (C) “To consume” means the dentist told them to pause their life in order to eat sugar, which is illogical (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (D) Incorrect structure (Structural Error).
4 (D)
- Why it is correct (The Key): Quitting the morning routine of grabbing a can requires the gerund.
- Error Analysis: (A) “To do” means stopping your current action to perform that bad habit (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (B) Past participle is structurally invalid (Structural Error). (C) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake).
5 (A)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The speaker ended the routine of having fizzy drinks with meals.
- Error Analysis: (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (C) “To have” means pausing a meal in order to get a drink (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (D) Invalid grammar structure (Structural Error).
6 (B)
- Why it is correct (The Key): “Couldn’t stop thinking” means the continuous action of thinking was impossible to quit at first.
- Error Analysis: (A) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (C) “To think” would mean the speaker couldn’t pause their life in order to think, completely changing the meaning (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (D) Past tense verb (Structural Error).
7 (C)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The speaker is abandoning the habit of making excuses.
- Error Analysis: (A) “To make” changes the meaning to pausing an action in order to create an excuse (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (D) Incorrect preposition + gerund combo (Structural Error).
8 (D)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The doctor demands the end of an ongoing bad behavior (ignoring health).
- Error Analysis: (A) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (B) Past tense verb (Structural Error). (C) “To ignore” implies the doctor wants the patient to pause what they are doing so they can ignore their health—a total medical contradiction! (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap).
9 (A)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The speaker has ceased the routine of getting sodas from the machine.
- Error Analysis: (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (C) “To get” means standing in front of the machine specifically to buy one, which defeats the purpose of quitting (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (D) Past participle is invalid here (Structural Error).
10 (B)
- Why it is correct (The Key): Ending the practice of adding sugar.
- Error Analysis: (A) “To add” means stopping an activity just to put sugar in the coffee (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (C) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (D) Past tense (Structural Error).
11 (A)
- Why it is correct (The Key): Advising friends to break the cycle of wasting money.
- Error Analysis: (B) “To waste” would mean recommending friends to pause their lives just to waste money (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (C) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (D) Invalid structure (Structural Error).
12 (C)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The action of keeping soda in the fridge has been permanently discontinued.
- Error Analysis: (A) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (B) “To keep” means pausing to put soda in the fridge (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (D) Past tense (Structural Error).
13 (C)
- Why it is correct (The Key): Giving up artificial sweeteners is the habit being broken.
- Error Analysis: (A) “To consume” means trying to pause what you are doing to eat sweeteners (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (D) Past tense verb (Structural Error).
14 (D)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The body naturally quit the physical habit/urge of craving sugar.
- Error Analysis: (A) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (B) Invalid structure (Structural Error). (C) “To crave” implies the body intentionally paused its functions in order to desire sugar (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap).
15 (C)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The internal habit of making up lies (“one won’t hurt”) has been stopped.
- Error Analysis: (A) “To tell” means stopping a conversation in order to lie to yourself (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (D) Past tense (Structural Error).
16 (A)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The ongoing behavior of treating bodies poorly must be abandoned.
- Error Analysis: (B) “To treat” implies we should pause our lives specifically to treat our bodies badly (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (C) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (D) Invalid grammar (Structural Error).
17 (C)
- Why it is correct (The Key): Quitting the long-term, harmful action of consuming (poisoning) sugar.
- Error Analysis: (A) “To poison” implies the speaker stopped walking in order to drink poison (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (D) Past tense (Structural Error).
18 (A)
- Why it is correct (The Key): Ceasing the general habit of eating favorite foods.
- Error Analysis: (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (C) “To eat” means interrupting your schedule in order to eat (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (D) Incorrect structure (Structural Error).
19 (D)
- Why it is correct (The Key): Breaking the bodily dependence (relying) on sugar for energy.
- Error Analysis: (A) “To rely” means stopping to lean on sugar for support (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (C) Past tense (Structural Error).
20 (A)
- Why it is correct (The Key): The long-term negative habit of sacrificing health must be terminated.
- Error Analysis: (B) Bare infinitive (Common Mistake). (C) “To sacrifice” means stopping our lives for the purpose of destroying our health (Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap). (D) Past tense verb (Structural Error).
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Stop + Gerund (V-ing): * Use this structure when you want to express quitting a habit or ending an ongoing action. The V-ing represents the action that is being terminated.
- Example: “I stopped drinking soda.” (I used to drink soda, but I quit. I don’t do it anymore.)
- Stop + Infinitive (To V):
- Use this structure when you interrupt or pause what you are currently doing in order to do something else. The “To V” represents the new goal or purpose.
- Example: “I stopped to drink water.” (I stopped walking/working because I wanted to drink water.)
- The Meaning Trap:
- Many learners accidentally use “Stop + To V” when talking about bad habits. If you say, “I stopped to smoke,” you are actually saying, “I paused my work so I could light a cigarette.” If you want to say you quit the bad habit entirely, you MUST say, “I stopped smoking.” Context is everything!