Earliest memories

Julie. I remember sitting on my grandmother’s lap for a birthday, I think it was mine
because they told me I could blow out the candles and I kind of knew the concept of it but didn’t
know quite how to do it. I remember crying when one of my cousins eventually had to blow out
the candles. Anyway, when I told my mother this, she said I couldn’t have remembered it
because it was only my second birthday, but I’m sure I do.

Helen. I was on holiday at the seaside. I went down to the edge of the sea to play, then
when I looked back I couldn’t see my family. So I wandered along the beach looking for them. I
walked and walked for a long time, but I don’t remember feeling scared or anything. Then an old
couple found me and took me to their home. They finally called the police – which they ought to
have done in the first place, of course – and my parents came to collect me. They must have been
incredibly worried – I’d been lost for four hours.

Ian. One of my earliest memories, from when I was about four, is seeing a boat race
across a moonlit sky. Honest, it’s there in my mind’s eye and I can even remember thinking
“That’s weird” at the time. I suppose it can’t have happened. People say it might have been a
dream, but I’m sure I remember it.

Gary. My eighty-year-old grandmother once told me that she could quite clearly
remember being born! She described the traumatic experience of suddenly being surrounded by
bright light and loud voices “like someone turning the volume right up on the television”. She
also remembered that later on she felt calm and said that this may have been as the nurse gave
her to her mother to hold in her arms.

 Underline ten examples of modal verbs in the past form in the text. Match them to the
following uses:

Possibility: …………………………………………………………………………………………

Logical deduction: ………………………………………………………………………………..

Obligation/ necessity: …………………………………………………………………………….

Advice: …………………………. ……………………………………………………………….

Permission: ……………………………………………………………………………………….

Ability: ……………………………………………………………………………………………