Modal Verbs / модальные глаголы

 

Read the article and choose the correct words 

 

How technology has changed our lives...

Last week my wife suggested we should have a weekend break: Barcelona, or perhaps Prague. After a few minutes on my computer I ... [was able to/had to/must/used to] book flights and a hotel, then print out airline tickets and a hotel voucher – all done in less than half an hour. Nothing surprising about that, you might say. But then I suddenly remembered how things were different when I was a child. If my parents wanted to go away they ... [can’t / *couldn’t/had to/were able]  just use the Internet – because there was no Internet. Well, of course it existed, but ordinary people ... [couldn’t/weren’t able/mustn't/managed to]  use it, it was only used by a few universities and some government agencies. No, they had to phone a travel agent or drive into town and go to a travel agency.  

It’s the same thing with phones. I remember once, when I was a teenager, going out with some friends and missing the last bus home. Of course, none of us had a mobile phone. So we spent hours searching for a phone box so we ... [could / can/must/will] call for a taxi. Eventually we ...  [could / *managed to/must to/used to] find one, but by then it was 2 a.m. and we were freezing cold. In those days mobile phones were an expensive luxury. Even if you had one, you ... [could only / *were only able/can only/must only] to use it in big cities because there was no signal in the countryside. And they were huge – not much smaller than a house brick. Now I have a phone that’s no bigger than a box of matches. And I ... [can / manage to/must/able] phone anyone, anywhere in the world, any time I feel like it. It can even ... [using to look/ *be used to look/must look/can to look] at the Internet. [Do you can / *Can you/Must you/Are you]... imagine how exciting it was the first time an engineer managed ... [*to make / making/will make/used to make]  a phone small enough to put in your pocket? It must have been amazing. But I’m sure that in the future they ... [can / *will be able to/must/used to]  make them small enough to wear as a wristwatch!

 

 

[answer-table]