Grammar · B2
Verbs that change meaning: stop, remember, try, mean
A small group of verbs means two different things depending on what follows. Stop doing means you ended the activity; stop to do means you paused in order to do something else. Remember doing looks back at a memory; remember to do looks forward at a duty. The same split applies to forget, regret, try, mean, go on and need.
Most verbs take either -ing or to and that is simply what they take. A handful take both, and the choice changes the meaning of the sentence completely.
The pattern is consistent once you see it. The -ing form points backwards to something already happening or already done. The to form points forwards to a purpose, a duty or an attempt.
So he stopped smoking means the habit ended, while he stopped to smoke means he broke off from something else in order to have a cigarette. Getting this wrong does not sound like a small error; it reverses what you said.
Now use it
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On the way home we stopped petrol.