caused
v.v. to make something happen, especially something bad or unexpected. You use it to talk about the reason for a problem or a change.
v. to act as the agent or reason for an event or condition. Transitive — requires a direct object to indicate the result or effect produced.
The heavy rain caused a lot of traffic today.
A small electrical fault in the kitchen caused the fire that damaged the entire restaurant last night.
While the initial economic downturn was triggered by external factors, poor management caused the eventual collapse of the firm's most profitable subsidiary.
The verb is transitive and often takes a noun phrase or a 'to-infinitive' clause as its object.
The rain caused that I was lateThe rain caused me to be lateCause is followed by an object and a 'to-infinitive', not a 'that' clause.