SIMPLE PRESENT VS PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

Each of the following sentences is preceded by a bare infinitive, the most heavily stressed syllable of which is underlined. Paying attention to whether or not the final consonant should be doubled before ing is added, fill in the blanks with the present participles corresponding to the bare infinitives. Use the American spelling for verbs ending in l. For example:

      whisper: They are __________ to their friends.
      They are whispering to their friends.

      refer: I was _________ to your letter.
      I was referring to your letter.

1. open: I am _____________ the door.
2. display: She is ______________ her talents.
3. submit: He is _______________ his report tomorrow.
4. limit: The store is _____________ the number of items on sale.
5. permit: We are not _____________ him to go.
6. sharpen: They are _______________ the pencils.
7. confess: She is ________________ with her sins.
8. focus: He is ________________ the camera.
9. repel: They are ________________ the attack.
10. shovel: I am ________________ the steps.
11. speak: Bill is _______________ to his classmates.
12. dispel: They are _______________ our doubts.
13. waste: He is _______________ his money.
14. move: We are _______________ to a new neighborhood.
15. color: The child is ______________ the picture.
16. cut: We are _____________ the the paper.
17. fly: the pilot is _______________ the plane.
18. flower: The orchids are _______________
19. infer: They are ______________ that we do not want to come.
20. listen: The children are ______________ to us.

3. Using the Present Continuous tense, fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the verbs shown in brackets. For example:
      We ___________ to come. (plan)
      We are planning to come.

      They _________ the lawn. (mow)
      They are mowing the lawn.

      It __________. (rain)
      It is raining.

1. I _______________ the grass. (cut)
2. It _______________ downstream. (float)
3. They _________________ the game. (win)
4. We _________________ the present. (wrap)
5. She _________________ lettuce. (grow)
6. He _________________ for us. (look)
7. I _________________ a sweater. (knit)
8. They _________________ wood. (saw)
9. She _________________ the windows. (clean)
10. We _________________ the floor. (scrub)
11. I ________________ the toaster. (fix)
12. He _________________ his coffee. (sip)
13. They __________________ the hedge. (trim)
14. You _________________ the ducks. (feed)
15. She _________________ her head. (nod)

For each of the following sentences, determine whether the Simple Present tense or the Present Continuous tense is more appropriate, and fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb given in brackets. For example:
      Right now, he ________ ridiculous. (be)
      Right now, he is being ridiculous.

      She ______ to Sydney every weekend. (drive)
      She drives to Sydney every weekend.

1. At the moment, I __________________ supper. (cook)
2. He ________________ the paper every weekday. (read)
3. We ________________ right now. (study)
4. She ________________ every day. (study)
5. Now it _______________. (rain)
6. They ______________ to Mexico every year. (travel)
7. Just now we ________________ the shopping. (do)
8. She always ________________ correctly.(answer)
9. You ________________ never late. (be)
10. Now I ________________ to the radio. (listen)
11. Each Sunday, we ________________ the flea market. (visit)
12. At present, I ________________ for work. (look)