Can "stoppage" and "stopping" be used interchangeably? If not, could someone please provide an example where they would convey dissimilar notions?
Do they have any semantic differences?
I don't refer to "stoppage time" (or injury time) for sports vs "stopping time" (the statistical concept). I refer for example to : "premature stopping of the procedure X" versus "premature stoppage of the procedure X".
Best Answer
"Stoppage" is a noun, whereas "stopping" is a verb; there are cases where they cannot be interchanged.
For example:
There are cases where they can be interchanged and change the sentence meaning.
For example:
Both of those sentences make grammatical sense, but (1) suggests food blocking something, such as an airway, and (2) suggests the food ceasing to move, such as a cut-off of supply.
Lastly, there are cases where they can be interchanged and not change the meaning of the sentence.
For example:
Here they both (virtually) convey the same meaning. This is, I believe, because the italicized words can effectively act as a single noun. If you want to get really nit-picky, you could differentiate and say the second sentence conveys that the state of being stopped will cause complications, while the first conveys that the the act of stopping will cause complications, but the difference is hardly distinguishable and can even reverse depending on the dictionary used.