Why are present participle and infinitive equally acceptable for some verbs, but not others?


This question about "started teaching/to teach" made me realise that even though the present participle and infinitive are both acceptable after "started", that's not the case with other superficially equivalent "auxiliary" verbs...



She began crying/to cry. (both okay - and to me, mean exactly the same thing)


She ceased caring/to care. (both okay, but the infinitive seems slightly more "natural" to me)


It commenced raining/?to rain.


It stopped raining/*to rain.


He quit gambling/*to gamble.


We gave up trying/*to try.



What is it about those last four that prevents the infinitive form being acceptable?


I have a vague sense that in some usages the infinitive might have been more acceptable in the past ("It commenced to rain" sounds a bit "Victorian" to me), but I can't square that with my preference for "I ceased to care" over "I ceased caring".




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