Badly written exam paper

Dear Teacher,
would you agree that the underlined passages in the text below are badly written or expressed?

An invitation to meal in someone’s house usually means a relaxed evening. More often than not men do not wear business suits, while the women wear comfortable rather than fashionable evening clothes.
It’s a good idea to take some flowers or a box of chocolates for your hostess; some, additionally, bring a bottle of wine. It does not have to be an expensive wine. The bottle is hardly ever opened, and quite often serves as a bottle that tonight’s host takes as a guest to next week’s dinner somewhere else.
In most parts of England the hostess expects a short letter of thanks for the evening. Such letters follow a standard formula: you mention the food and the company and express the hope that you will meet again.

(Text copied from an examination paper)

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Originally Posted by angl

Dear Teacher,
would you agree that the underlined passages in the text below are badly written or expressed?
Welcome!
An invitation to meal :cross: ("meal" is not a verb) in someone’s house usually means a relaxed evening. More often than not men do not wear business suits, while the women wear comfortable rather than fashionable evening clothes. :tick:
It’s a good idea to take some flowers or a box of chocolates for your hostess; some, additionally, :tick: (except I would omit the commas) bring a bottle of wine. It does not have to be an expensive wine. :tick:The bottle is hardly ever opened, and quite often is the bottle that tonight’s host takes as a gift to next week’s dinner somewhere else. :tick:
In most parts of England :tick:the hostess expects a short letter of thanks for the evening. Such letters follow a standard formula: you mention the food and the company and express the hope that you will meet again.

(Text copied from an examination paper)

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2006

invitation to a meal.

not a teacher

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Originally Posted by tedtmc

invitation to a meal.

not a teacher

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since it's in the evening

'an invitation to dinner'
'an invitation to dine'

Thanks for your replies to my post. The omission of 'a' before a meal is a blatant error. I agree that is improved by changing 'meal' for 'dinner'.

How about: 'men do not wear business suits, while women wear casual rather than formal evening outfits' instead of?: 'men do not wear business suits, while the women wear comfortable rather than fashionable evening clothes'

And how about changing: 'in most parts of England the hostess expects...' for?: 'Generally, in England, a hostess will expect...'

I'd appreciate your comments on those sentences.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by angl

An invitation to meal in someone’s house usually means a relaxed evening. More often than not men do not wear business suits, while the women wear comfortable rather than fashionable evening clothes.
I think the problem here is your saying what men don't wear, followed by women what do wear. It does sound strange. There's nothing wrong with the underlined part.
* "Michael doesn't study Chemistry, while Jane studies Biology."

It’s a good idea to take some flowers or a box of chocolates for your hostess; some, additionally, bring a bottle of wine. It does not have to be an expensive wine. The bottle is hardly ever opened, and quite often serves as a bottle that tonight’s host takes as a guest to next week’s dinner somewhere else.
No, you don't take a bottle of wine as a guest. That would be odd!

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R