Lying in bed the other morning, the cat crawled up to lie on my head.  In a still coma like state, I grumbled, "Stop it!" and pushed her away.  It was far too early for cat fur in the face.  So then I stayed there, thinking about it….is "stop it" proper?  Should I have said, "Stop that"?  Or just, "Stop"?

I’m thinking I probably should have just rolled over and hit the snooze for another nine minutes, but instead I thought of you folks, and I just knew this was the place to go!  I’ve been a lurker for ages, now it’s time to jump in…

So - any takers?   ;D
Thanks!!!!
~Liza

Very funny, Katy! :D

My cat knows what I mean when I snap my fingers at him.  And it’s contextual, to an extent; but it’s never a bad response for him to think, "I must have to leave the house now", and head for the door.

Anyway, to address the query at hand—welcome, btw, Lizanne!—the verb stop follows the same rules other verbs in English follow.  If you’re giving a command, you can simply yell the verb.

STOP!
RUN!
BEWARE!
DUCK! (to which the Kratz brothers always respond, laughing, "That’s no duck; it’s a hawk!")

You get the idea, I’m sure.  You can follow the verb with a predicate (it, that, blah…) if you like.  In short, all the examples you listed in your original post are just fine.

-Tim