Which sentence is correct? / myLot

United Arab Emirates

January 23, 2013 11:16am CST

Hello everybody, since I learned that the verb phrase (can't help) require an-ing form in the complement,I put it in a sentence but I need your correction after the word (stopping). Look at the sentence: I can't help stopping to eat chocolate. (or) I can't help stopping eating chocolate.

2 people like this

2 responses

MandaLee

@MandaLee (3764)

• United States

23 Jan 13

Hi, The sentence is either: 1. "I can't stop eating chocolate." or 2. "I can't help eating chocolate." As others have mentioned, the correct form of the verb phrase depends on the context.

smilemoon

@smilemoon (766)

• United Arab Emirates

25 Jan 13

Thank u very much Mandalee.

The context plays an important role to make the meaning of the sentence in many cases.

Patsie Hatley

@Hatley (163776)

• Garden Grove, California

23 Jan 13

hi smilemoon the two sentences are b oth correct but they both mean something different,. One is about stopping to eat chocolates like perhap you might have gone to a

candy shop . the other one is about how you cannot resist eating one more chocolate.Which idea were you to write?

smilemoon

@smilemoon (766)

• United Arab Emirates

24 Jan 13

Aha! so they are both correct and both have different meaning. I liked how do u explained them. Thanks a lot.