Exercise 37 B	

The situation
�	The builders originally said they would finish the house before next year.
�	They were delayed by a large amount of rain which caused flooding and prevented them from digging the foundations on schedule.
�	The original schedule for digging the foundations was last week, but they have not yet been dug.
�	Digging foundations in flooded land is dangerous. A house built in this way will fall down.
�	They now expect to finish the interior of the house by the spring.
�	The house will be ready for occupation before the summer.

Harry	I thought you said the house would be finished before next year.	
Builder	Yes, well, it would have been for sure but for the rain. We would (should) have finished building the house by winter if we'd been able to dig the foundations earlier and we should have dug them last week if we wanted to keep to the plan.	
Harry	But we do want to keep to the plan.	
Builder	Two quite different answers are possible for the next part, depending on the time they are talking about. This is not clear from the text of the exercise. If the builder is referring to the future:

Yes, we could certainly finish the foundations earlier, but with all the flooding the house would fall down too.

If the builder is referring to the past:

Yes, we could certainly have finished the foundations earlier, but with all the flooding the house would have fallen down too.
	
Harry	I see. So what's the new timetable?	
Builder	If all goes well, we will (should) have finished the interior by spring, and if so, you will / should be able to move in before the summer.	

Should  / would 

Should (have) in this exercise has two meanings:

(1)	Something that was supposed to happen but didn't happen:
	We should have dug (the foundations) last week. But you didn't dig them.

(2)	A present or future possibility: something that you expect to happen :
	We should have finished the interior by spring. You expect to finish – a strong possibility 	but not absolutely certain. Compare with:
	We will have finished. Certain.

More examples:

I should have called Mavis. I didn't call her.
He should have told me. He didn't tell me.
He should have got home by now. I expect he has arrived home.
The meeting should be over by five. I expect the meeting will be over by five.