could you help me?

[secretgarden]

----Wouldn't you rather your child ____to bed early?
A go B went C would go D goes

the answer is B ,could you explain it to me?
Thank you very much!

[Tdol]

It's an imaginary situation-the truth is that the child doesn't go to bed early. When we want to show that something is imaginary we use the past tense, as in the second conditional.

[dihen]

Can I say? :
`
"Wouldn't you rather your child to go to bed early?"

[zahari]

No! As tdol said, after would rather(= prefer) we can put either a present bare infinitive when the subject of would rather is also the subject of the following verb:

I'd rather go now. (I prefer- I go)
She'd rather have a salad for dinner. ( She prefers-she goes)

or:

past simple when the subject of would rather is different from the subject of the following verb, expressing an imaginary/unreal situation in the present

I'd rather you went now.( I prefer- you go) PRESENT
I'd rather they left.( I prefer- they leave) PRESENT

( now, when we want to refer to the past, we can use the perfect infinitive in the first case:

I'd rather have told him the truth yesterday. He wouldn't have been angry with me. PAST

and past perfect in the second,for an unreal situation in the PAST:

I'd rather he had left earlier yesterday. He wouldn't miss the bus. PAST)