Ex7. A woman received a $1000 prize for winning a short-story writing contest. This is her acceptance speech. Fill in the appropriate gerund or infinitive. It is a great honor (award) (0) to be awarded this generous prize tonight. (1) (presenting) an award for something that I enjoy doing anyway thrills me. (2) (To say) that I am indebted to my parents would be an understatement. (3) (Having) parents who were trained as teachers gave me an important start. From the time I was very young, (4) (studying) four hours every day after school was required. It was a frequent sight (5) (to see) my siblings discussing main points and rehearsing the answers to problems. (6) (Being scolded) by our parents for not paying enough attention to our work would have been the greatest shame. Besides doing my homework for school, (7) (reading) fiction and nonfiction books took up much of my leisure time.. (8) (Having read) so many types of books by the time I got to college proved to be a marvelous advantage. (9) (Having seen) so many good written models allowed me to creatively and effortlessly produce my own work for my university English classes. Today, it requires more discipline for me (10) (to be) a good writer. (11) (Being married) with three children leaves less time to write. It requires initiative (12) (to arise) every day at 5:00 A.M. to write. (13) (Writing) in this manner is the only way that I have been able to produce several short stories and a few poems. (14) (Not receiving) very good marks on my essay pieces in college, I have left essay writing to some other writer! Well, I can see that my time is up. It has been an honor (15) (to be selected) as the winner of this contest and I thank my parents, family, and all of you for your recognition today.