Oxford documents both cease + -ing and cease + to-infinitive. Cease is formal, and many expressions strongly favor one wording in actual use, so the page treats the two as licensed constructions without claiming a rigid semantic contrast that the source does not establish.
ReviewedEvidence2 sourcesSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Both “cease doing” and “cease to do” are documented. Oxford lists both patterns, so choose the form that best fits the expression and register rather than inventing a universal meaning split.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familyverb complement pattern
TermsCease Doing, Cease To Do
Further guidance
Boundary
Do not transfer the well-known stop + -ing versus stop + to-infinitive distinction onto cease as if it were the same rule.
Construction
Oxford lists both “cease doing something” and “cease to do something” under the formal verb cease.
Decision
Both patterns can be grammatical; use established wording and context rather than applying the stop doing/stop to do meaning contrast to cease.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
Cambridge documents both admit + -ing and admit to + -ing for acknowledging something. Other passive patterns such as “be admitted to be” are separate constructions.
Both patterns are standard. “Advise waiting” recommends an action generally or in context, while “advise him to wait” names the person who is advised to perform it. A that-clause is another standard option.
When “afford” is followed directly by another verb, standard learner references use a to-infinitive: “afford to do.” An -ing form can appear elsewhere in a sentence, but it is not a like-for-like direct complement after “afford.”
“Agree to do” expresses consent to take an action. An -ing form normally follows a preposition in patterns such as “agree with doing,” which expresses approval rather than the direct promise-to-act construction.
Cambridge documents aim + to-infinitive for intention and aim at for directing effort toward an objective. Do not omit the preposition and present bare “aim doing” as equivalent to “aim to do.”
“Allow” can take an activity as its object, as in “allow smoking,” or a person/thing followed by a to-infinitive, as in “allow visitors to enter.” The patterns answer different structural questions: what is allowed versus who is allowed to do what.
