Suppose a wife is arguing with her husband over why he didn't take her to the party yesterday.
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Wife: Why would you go to a party without me? ("a party" refers to any party at any time)
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Wife: Why would you go to a party without me? ("a party" refers to any party only in the past)
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Wife: Why would you go to that party without me? ("that party" refers to the party yesterday)
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Wife: Why would you have gone to a party without me?
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Wife: Why would you have gone to that party without me?
Which ones are correct/idiomatic? I think (1) uses hypothetical "would". But what about the others? Is "would" real or hypothetical in them?
Best Answer
All of them are idiomatic, but they may have slightly different meanings.
Examples 1 and 2 are identical and have the meaning that you give for example 1 rather than 2. The distinction between any time or past time is the distinction between examples 1 and 4.
The distinction between a party in general and a specific party is conveyed by the distinction in determiners, the indefinite article “a” and the specific determiner “that.”
In all the cases, “would” is hypothetical unless the context requires a different interpretation.