"What is the difference between gerunds, present participles and present continuous?" ("Different" is an adjective.) Well, because they all end in -ing, I can understand the confusion. Present continuous uses "to be" plus a present participle. "I am reading." A present participle needs another part of the sentence to function. It cannot stand alone. For example: "I am reading a book." (Present continuous) "I am busy reading a book" (You are busy. "Reading a book" tells me what you are busy doing.) "I am reading an interesting book." (Participles can also work as adjectives.) Gerunds work differently. You use a gerund when you want to treat an action as a thing. So, a gerund sits where you expect the subject or object of the sentence to be. Also, gerunds follow prepositions. "Reading books is one way of improving your English." The subject is "reading books". "Improving your English" follows "of". These are definitely not participles.

They are all the same "ing" ending I'm sleeping right now - gerund / present part. An interesting book - present participle

Present participle is any verb that ends in -ing. Examples: Running, walking, going, doing. Present continuous uses to be + verb-ing. Example: I am not going. You are playing. She is not coming into work today.