Beth was late for work because of the ______.

Beth was late for work because of the ______.

• A. Traffic jam
• B. Delay
• C. Holdup
• D. Congestion

Answer: (A)

Being late because of something on the road needs a concrete obstacle that caused the delay. A traffic jam is the most natural, specific way to express that kind of obstacle, so the sentence flows smoothly: Beth was late for work because of the traffic jam. The word delay is too general and just restates lateness without naming what caused it. Holdup is less common in everyday speech for this context and can feel informal or imply something else. Congestion describes heavy traffic, which could work, but traffic jam is the simplest, most idiomatic choice that directly explains the lateness.

Being late because of something on the road needs a concrete obstacle that caused the delay. A traffic jam is the most natural, specific way to express that kind of obstacle, so the sentence flows smoothly: Beth was late for work because of the traffic jam. The word delay is too general and just restates lateness without naming what caused it. Holdup is less common in everyday speech for this context and can feel informal or imply something else. Congestion describes heavy traffic, which could work, but traffic jam is the simplest, most idiomatic choice that directly explains the lateness.