TEXT MESSAGES
Can you remember where you ____ 1 (to be) when the first text message _____ 2 (to be sent) in the UK? You can't? I'm not surprised. Nobody ______ 3 (to remember)
it. But it's an unpredictable world, and nothing has been less predicted than the rise of text messaging. It ______ 4 (to come) from nowhere to become the fastest growing phenomenon in recent times.
Over 2 million text messages _______ 5 (to be sent) every hour in the UK. The mobile phone industry ______ 6 (to claim) that 95% of them arrive within 10 seconds in normal circumstances'. Texting 7 _______(to open) up an entirely new area of communication that ______ 8 (not to exist) before.
Texting _____ 9 (to become) a means for parents to maintain contact with their children, for grandparents to bond with grandchildren, for television to interact with the audience. It is a marketing tool of huge potential for companies, which, for the first time, can build up profiles of individual users and target them with special offers.
Texting has not been successful simply because it ______10 (to enable) you to communicate with others by phone without speaking, but also because it is brief and no one
_______11 (to expect) to follow the usual formalities. Its simplicity may ensure its long life.