Which statement best describes the author's purpose?

• A. To Inform
• B. To Describe
• C. Author's Purpose
• D. To Explain

Answer: (C)

Understanding an author's purpose means identifying why the author wrote the text—the overall aim behind creating it. The options that name specific ways the author conveys information, like informing, describing, or explaining, describe methods the author might use, but they don’t name the overarching aim itself. The best choice here is the one that points to the author's purpose as a concept—the reason behind writing—because the question asks you to describe what the author aims to do. In other words, recognizing the phrase that labels the aim as the author’s purpose correctly frames the task: you’re identifying the general goal of the writing, not a particular method they use to convey it. The other options would only fit if you had clear evidence from the text about a specific function, but without that context, they’re narrower.