[General] rephrasing a sentence: what matches Christmas

[cloverleaf88]

How could you rephrase the following sentence?

What matches Christmas better than a chocolate cake?
My suggestion: What is more suitable for Christmas than a chocolate cake.

 

[emsr2d2]

What fits Christmas better than ...?
What could be better at Christmas than ...?

I assume this is an actual question where you are trying to get your students to come up with something more appropriate than chocolate cake. Or is chocolate cake the traditional cake at Christmas in Austria? In the UK, it's a huge fruit cake.

 

[Peedeebee]

That's interesting, ems; I thought it meant a rhetorical question as there's nothing better!
My suggestion is "What makes Christmas...?"
(I know that in Norway for example it would be a very creamy light sponge cake. They dislike our UK ultra-fruit cake.)

 

[MikeNewYork]

In the US , if one gets a fruit cake as a Christmas gift, it goes into the freezer and is regifted the next year. I imagine that there are many aged fruit cakes in circulation. :shock:

 

[emsr2d2]

No-one gives a fruit cake as a Christmas present! It's the traditional dessert after Christmas lunch. It's one of three, actually. The standard desserts are Christmas cake (the big square fruit cake), Christmas pudding (round, alcohol-soaked fruit cake) or mince pies (sweet mincemeat, obviously), usually all smothered in single cream and all entirely unrequired after we've all eaten our own body weight in turkey/nut roast, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, baked onions, carrots, peas, Brussels sprouts, onion sauce and gravy.

 

[cloverleaf88]

Thanks for your answers. It's not a question I asked the students, but a question a student came up with in her essay. She wrote about how to make a perfect chocolate cake and began the essay by claiming that there's nothing more suitable for Christmas than eating a chocolate cake. Should I correct her sentence and give her the following suggestion: What is more suitable for Christmas than a chocolate cake?

 

[Rover_KE]

Piscean's right. We're here to comment on her English usage, not her ideal Christmas treat.

 

[Peedeebee]

But you've set us off now, Cloverleaf! We just can't resist gossiping about food traditions. It must be a British thing? In Yorkshire they (I'm not a native) like to eat cheese with their Christmas fruit cake. And in Yorkshire it's so cold that you need to eat your own body weight quite frequently.
I love the idea of frozen fruit cakes circulating amongst friends in the States!

 

[Peedeebee]

And it's not just the Christmas pudding that's alcohol-soaked. That's why the cakes don't need freezing.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

Just on the off chance that the OP is still interested, two suggestions:

1. What's more Chirstmassy than chocolate cake?

2. Nothing says 'Christmas' like a chocolate cake.

Problem with both: chocolate cake isn't much of a Christmas tradition, at least where I come from. Maybe Red Velvet cake- chocolate cake with a ton of red food coloring and white frosting...

 

[SoothingDave]

But you've set us off now, Cloverleaf! We just can't resist gossiping about food traditions. It must be a British thing? In Yorkshire they (I'm not a native) like to eat cheese with their Christmas fruit cake. And in Yorkshire it's so cold that you need to eat your own body weight quite frequently.
I love the idea of frozen fruit cakes circulating amongst friends in the States!

The theory is that there is a finite number of fruitcakes. No more ever get made. No one eats them. They just keep being given as gifts.

 

[emsr2d2]

Now that we know the context and that it's a statement, not an actual question, I agree with the others that it doesn't need correction.