Below are
short texts and dialogues which contain all the modal verbs. I hope that exploring these
examples of the use of modal verbs will help learners build their confidence in using them.
Text 1
The Story of Helen Keller, The Girl Who Could Not See, Hear or Speak
I’d like you to know the story of Helen Keller, who
could neither see nor hear from the time she was a baby. Yet the brilliant girl
was able to overcome all those handicaps, to graduate from a college with honors and become a useful citizen.
I
must say there was nothing wrong with Helen Keller when she was born. Her father and mother were very proud of their pretty baby, who tried to say “pa-pa” and “ma-ma”.
For nineteen months Helen grew bigger and stronger. She
was able to walk when she was a year old; she
could say a few words.
But one day the child fell ill. She
must have been very ill. For days she was laid up with a high fever and soon the parents learned that their darling would never
be able to see and
hear.
The little child was now doomed to a life of silence and darkness. She
could not hear what was said to her and did not know how to talk, she
was unable to play with other children.
When Helen was 6 years old her parents took her to Baltimore and then to Washington to famous doctors to find out if they could do something to make her hear and see again, but the doctors
could do nothing. The child was hopelessly deaf. Dr. Bell said the Kellers
should address the Perkins Institution for the blind in Boston and ask if they
could send someone to help the child.
It was a wonderful day for Helen Keller when Ann Sullivan arrived in March 1887 to take charge of the child who
could neither hear nor speak. Helen was nearly seven, Ann Sullivan was past twenty.
Ann Sullivan found a way to make herself understood. She gave the child a doll, and taking Helen Keller’s hand she slowly spelled out "d-o-l". The child learnt for the first time that things
must have names.
When Miss Sullivan later spelled into the little girl’s hand the word “w-a-t-e-r” and then let the water from the pumps run over her hand, a new light seemed to brighten the face of the child. During the next 3 months, she learned 300 words and
could even
put some of them into sentences.
Miss Sullivan loved her pupil who was so quick to learn. She lived with Helen, played with her and worked with her every hour of the day. By means of the hand language, Helen and her teacher
were able to talk to each other.
