This is a question from a JLPT study book.
招待状をもらったら(answer)返事をしないと失礼になる。
The correct answer is (出席するにしろ欠席するにしろ). What’s wrong with (出席するにつけ欠席につけ)?
Maybe this is actually a really simple question, but I want to make sure. Is it simply incorrect because there is no する after 欠席? Would be correct if I did have する? What if neither had する?
につけ is usually used when something is being discussed as happening the same way every time, and then what can happen within that situation. Kind of ‘whenever (A), (B)’.
にしろ just states ‘whether (A) or (B)’, by presenting the options in imperative form.
In this case, につけ wouldn’t work because たら is indicating a singular event, to which the person can only ‘attend’ or ‘not attend’.
につけ would work if the sentence was written as 招待状をもらうにつけ, because then this would show that the speaker is discussing any general situation in which they get an invitation.