PRESENT AND PAST

IT IS HARD TO UNDERSTAND WHEN THE SITUATION IS PRESENT AND WHEN IT IS PAST IN THIS STORY.


                        PRESENT is in red.                           PAST is in green.

Dolores (work)_________________ in a shop selling records.
One afternoon a middle-aged woman (come)_________________ in,  (sit)_____________________  on a stool in front of the counter, and (smile) ________________ at her brightly.  “I (want) __________________ a record, dear,” she (begin)_________________.  “ one I (hear) on the radio this morning.”
     “What  is the record (call) _______________?” Dolores (ask) ________________  .
The woman (shake)______________________  her head. “I don’t remember.  I (know) ________________  if I (hear)_________________ it. Perhaps if you (play)_________________ me a few records, I (be able) _______________ to pick it out.
     She (settle)_____________  herself more comfortably on her stool. “I just (remember) _______________ something,” she said.  It (come) ___________________ from a play. There’s a girl who (speak)_________________  very badly, if you (see) _____________________  what I mean. But after some time she learns to talk well.
     This (give)________________   Dolores an idea. “If you (ask)___________________ me, it’s from ‘My Fair Lady’, she (say)__________________.
    “That’s it, dear. If you (think) __________________ of it sooner, we ( not waste) ________________ so much time.  I suppose you be__________  new to the job."

                                                       *         *          *

If you think , we will   / If you  thought     ,we would

You didn't think.., but if you had thought.., we would (not)  have wasted