Why can't I say 「電車に遅刻する」?


In the 2012 [JLPT-official N4 sample test book, question
#34](https://www.jlpt.jp/samples/sample2012/pdf/N4V.pdf#page=11), you are
tested on the meaning of the word ちこく.

> もんだい５ つぎの ことばの つかいかたで いちばん いい ものを １・２・３・４から ひとつ えらんで ください。
>
> **３４** ちこく  
>  １ あの とけいは ちょっと **ちこく** して います。  
>  ２ じゅぎょうに **ちこく** して すみません。  
>  ３ 10時の でんしゃに **ちこく** して しまいました。  
>  ４ れんらくが **ちこく** して すみません。

![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tp8i1.png)

The correct sentence is 2.「授業に 遅刻して すみません。」

However, there is one other sentence choice that seems correct, and I can't
figure out why it's wrong: 4.「10時の 電車に 遅刻して しまいました。」 My best guess is that
遅刻する can't apply to vehicles, since the word 乗り遅れる exists, but that seems like
a stretch. Can someone explain?




To be fair, if you Google that phrase you can actually find a small number of
examples of seemingly native speakers using it. They may be using it as a
slightly more formal variant of 遅れる, and it is not totally incomprehensible.

However, I find this collocation quite unnatural, and according to my own
introspection, the reason is very clear. When you 遅刻 to some event, you will
still have a chance to make it happen. For example, if you 遅刻 to an exam, you
might nevertheless be allowed to enter the room, even if you perhaps only have
the last five minutes...

But in a typical situation, if _you_ are late for a train, you will
automatically miss it. You might be able to take the next, but no longer the
same one, so it is no more 遅刻. In this light, you cannot use 遅刻 when you are
completely past the back end of a meeting, since you can never attend it
anymore.

Conversely, 電車 **が** 遅刻する may sound not that bad, albeit not idiomatic,
because when a train comes late, most passengers would usually continue to
wait, so it can transport them anyway. Absolutely nothing to do with how I've
waited for a half hour late train when I visited Germany a while ago.




To be fair, if you Google that phrase you can actually find a small number of
examples of seemingly native speakers using it. They may be using it as a
slightly more formal variant of 遅れる, and it is not totally incomprehensible.

However, I find this collocation quite unnatural, and according to my own
introspection, the reason is very clear. When you 遅刻 to some event, you will
still have a chance to make it happen. For example, if you 遅刻 to an exam, you
might nevertheless be allowed to enter the room, even if you perhaps only have
the last five minutes...

But in a typical situation, if _you_ are late for a train, you will
automatically miss it. You might be able to take the next, but no longer the
same one, so it is no more 遅刻. In this light, you cannot use 遅刻 when you are
completely past the back end of a meeting, since you can never attend it
anymore.

Conversely, 電車 **が** 遅刻する may sound not that bad, albeit not idiomatic,
because when a train comes late, most passengers would usually continue to
wait, so it can transport them anyway. Absolutely nothing to do with how I've
waited for a half hour late train when I visited Germany a while ago.

