Episode 49: I Stopped to Think / Stopped Thinking

stop/try + -ing vs to — Hamlet’s dilemma, 1600s (B1-B2)

Grammar Box

Meaning: Some verbs change meaning completely depending on whether they take -ing or to-infinitive. Stop, try, remember, and forget work this way.

Form: stop + -ing (quit the activity) vs stop + to (pause in order to)

Example 1: He stopped smoking. (quit) vs He stopped to smoke. (paused for a cigarette)

Example 2: Try closing the door. (experiment) vs Try to close it. (make effort)

Common mistake: Wrong: I stopped to smoke cigarettes (when meaning “quit”). Better: I stopped smoking.

The Challenge

Luna read her friend’s text: “I stopped to think about your advice.” Did that mean her friend paused to consider it, or quit thinking about it? The grammar completely changed the meaning. She tried googling the answer, but explanations confused her more. The watch glowed with dark intensity. Professor Wisdom appeared, holding a skull. “Hamlet,” he said solemnly, “knew that sometimes stopping to think is wisdom. Sometimes stopping thinking is survival. The difference? Everything. Come.”

The Journey

Elsinore Castle, Denmark, 1600s. Prince Hamlet stood alone in the corridor, his father dead, his mother remarried to his uncle within weeks. Hamlet had just seen his father’s ghost, demanding revenge. Now Hamlet faced an impossible choice: act or think. Kill or question. The moment demanded decision, but Hamlet stopped to think. He paused. He questioned. He analyzed.

In the famous soliloquy, Hamlet wrestled with existence itself: “To be or not to be.” But beneath that philosophical question was a practical one: Should he stop thinking and just act? Warriors stopped thinking — they trusted instinct, struck fast, lived or died with honor. But Hamlet couldn’t stop thinking. His mind wouldn’t shut off.

He tried acting impulsively — organizing a play to expose his uncle’s guilt. He tried to convince himself revenge was simple. But every attempt at action circled back to thought. “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,” he concluded. Thinking itself paralyzed him. He had stopped to think — paused action to consider — and couldn’t restart. He had tried thinking his way to certainty and failed.

Compare Hamlet to his foil, Laertes. When Laertes learned his father was murdered, he didn’t stop to think. He burst into the castle with an army, ready to kill immediately. He had stopped thinking — turned off analysis, embraced rage. Different grammar, different destiny. Laertes died in quick violence. Hamlet died slowly, in philosophical agony.

Shakespeare’s genius was showing both approaches fail. Stop to think too much: paralysis. Stop thinking entirely: recklessness. The tragedy isn’t that Hamlet chose wrong. It’s that the infinitesimal grammatical difference — “to think” versus “thinking” — represented the unbridgeable gap between contemplation and action. Between the person we are and the person we need to be.

The Deep Dive

Certain verbs completely change meaning with -ing versus to-infinitive. “Stop + -ing” means quit the activity permanently or temporarily. “Stop + to-infinitive” means pause one activity to do another. “I stopped smoking” = I quit cigarettes. “I stopped to smoke” = I paused my walk to have a cigarette. The difference is crucial.

“Try” also shifts meaning. “Try + -ing” suggests experimenting with a method: “Try turning it off and on” (see if this method works). “Try + to-infinitive” suggests making effort toward a difficult goal: “Try to stay calm” (attempt something challenging). Similarly, “remember + -ing” refers to recalling a past action: “I remember meeting you.” “Remember + to-infinitive” means not forgetting a future task: “Remember to call.”

These verbs require careful attention because choosing the wrong form doesn’t just sound unnatural — it reverses your intended meaning. Context usually clarifies, but in writing or formal speech, precision matters. Understanding these differences marks the transition from intermediate to advanced proficiency.

More Examples

History: Churchill never stopped fighting tyranny, and he often stopped to deliver speeches that inspired millions.

Science: Edison tried thousands of materials before succeeding; he tried to find the perfect filament through systematic experimentation.

Everyday: I stopped drinking coffee at night, and now I stop to have tea instead.

Formal: The company stopped producing the defective product and stopped to evaluate all manufacturing processes.

Informal: I tried calling you, but when that didn’t work, I tried to send a text message.

Contrast: “He stopped talking” (became silent) vs “He stopped to talk” (paused in order to have a conversation).

Practice & Reflection

Exercises:

Fill in the blank: Hamlet _ to think about revenge, but he couldn’t _ thinking about morality. (stopped / stop)
Correct the mistake: I stopped to smoke cigarettes five years ago and feel much healthier now.
Choose and explain: “The door won’t close. __ it harder.”
a) Try pushing
b) Try to push
Rewrite: What’s the difference? “I remember to lock the door” vs “I remember locking the door.”
Compare: “I stopped to buy milk” versus “I stopped buying milk” — which means you still buy milk?
Your reflection: Describe a time you stopped to do something important. Then describe something you stopped doing entirely.

Answer Key:

stopped / stop — first = paused to; second = quit (the activity)
I stopped smoking — “quit” requires -ing, not to-infinitive
a) Try pushing — experiment with this method; “try to” implies difficult effort
First = don’t forget (future task); second = recall doing it (past action)
First = paused in order to buy; second = quit buying. First still involves buying.
Check: “stopped to + verb” = paused for; “stopped + -ing” = quit?

The Lesson

Luna replied carefully: “I stopped to think about your advice, and it really helped.” The watch dimmed. She understood now. Hamlet’s tragedy was grammar made flesh. He stopped to think when he should have acted. He couldn’t stop thinking when he needed to. Sometimes we need the pause — stop to breathe, stop to reconsider. Sometimes we need to quit — stop doubting, stop hesitating. The infinitive and the gerund. Two tiny grammatical forms. Between them: the space where we choose who we become.