He stopped to smoke. vs He stopped smoking.

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello,

He stopped to smoke is different from He stopped smoking. The former means, for example, ‘He was walking on the street. Suddenly, he wanted to smoke. Then he stopped walking to find a cigarette and smoke it.’ However, the latter means, for instance, ‘He didn’t want to smoke anymore as of the New Year. Now he stopped the smoking habit’.

Then, how about ‘quit’? ‘Stop’ and ‘quit’ have almost the same meaning. ‘He quit smoking.’ I know I can say that. How about ‘he quit to smoke’? Does it mean ‘he stopped to smoke’?

Thanks,
sweetpumpkin

2

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It sounds odd without an object: He quit shovelling to smoke a cigarette.
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