The reason why....

[Davy07]

The reason____ being late for the meeting was ___ his little son fell ill this morning.
A. for that B. why, that C. for because D. why , because
Yes, I know in relative clause, we always use the reason + why (relative adv). In the above sentence, do we have to use the reason why ..... that or we can use for here.
Thanks, English-Test.
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Only the Paranoid Survive

[Our Tort System]

My thoughts:

The reason for being late for the meeting was that his little son fell ill this morning.
The reason why he was late for the meeting was that his little son fell ill this morning.
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If it's not easy, don't do it!
That's how I got where I am.

[RudnyBR]

Participle clause?
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Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.

[Davy07]

It should be -ing form. okay, so you can also call it present participle .
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Only the Paranoid Survive

[Esl_Expert]

Hi Davy,

The first example that Our Tort System gave you was the correct one. In your sentence, option A fills the gaps correctly.

[Davy07]

Thank you very much. Can you explain why we can't use because here.

Yup, I totally agree. Gerund is the right answer.
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Only the Paranoid Survive

[RudnyBR]

Nice, really nice. I also found this:

A gerund phrase will begin with a gerund, an ing word, and might include other modifiers and/or objects. Gerund phrases always function as nouns, so they will be subjects, subject complements, or objects in the sentence.

And also this:

Gerund and present participle phrases are easy to confuse because they both begin with an ing word. The difference is that a gerund phrase will always function as a noun while a present participle phrase describes another word in the sentence.

So, as ''being late..'' is a noun, it must be a Gerund Phrase.

(From http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/gerundphrase.htm)
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Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.

[Esl_Expert]

Hi Davy,

Although you may hear native speakers of English sometimes saying things such as 'The reason was because...' in casual conversation, that isn't good because what you are actually doing with such a construction is giving a reason for the reason (rather than a reason for whatever it is you want to explain).

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"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein