You have no excuse … late.

Analyze the question The sentence is "You have no excuse __ late." We need the right preposition (and verb form) after the noun "excuse."

Explain the concept The noun excuse is normally followed by the preposition for when we talk about the reason for an action or behaviour: an excuse for something / for doing something. When a preposition is followed by a verb, the verb takes the -ing form (a gerund). So we need for + being.

Step-by-step solution

• A. in being: "excuse in being late" is not a standard collocation. ✗
• B. to being: "to" doesn't collocate with "excuse" here. (Note: "excuse to be late" would work, but "to being" does not.) ✗
• C. been: a past participle that needs an auxiliary (have/has been). It doesn't fit grammatically. ✗
• D. for being: the correct collocation (excuse for) followed by a gerund (being). ✓

Complete sentence: "You have no excuse for being late."

Tip Learn noun + preposition pairs as fixed chunks: excuse for, reason for, cause of, solution to, reply to, respect for. In the exam, if a preposition comes before a verb, the verb almost always ends in -ing.