This question is incomplete. I've found the complete question online. It is the following:
Which part of the excerpt best demonstrates that the author’s purpose is to entertain children with a humorous story?
"In the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth—so!"
"Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small ‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, ‘I’m hungry.’"
"And the small 'Stute Fish said in a small 'stute voice, ‘Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?’ ‘No,’ said the Whale. ‘What is it like?’ ‘Nice,’ said the small 'Stute Fish. ‘Nice but nubbly.’ ‘Then fetch me some,’ said the Whale, and he made the sea froth up with his tail. ‘One at a time is enough,’ said the 'Stute Fish."
“If you swim to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West (that is magic), you will find, sitting on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife, one ship-wrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.”
Answer:
The part that best demonstrates the author's purpose is to entertain children with a humorous story is:
"Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small ‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, ‘I’m hungry.’"
Explanation:
If you ever had the chance to compare a children's book to a regular one, you must have noticed the language is employed in a quite different way. Children's story tend to have a lighter tone. Characters are often described in a childish manner, with simple adjectives such as "big" and "small". There is also more repetition, as if to make sure children will keep that information in mind and form that mental image in their heads. Notice that this is precisely what we have in the excerpt we have chosen as the answer, especially at its beginning. In the same sentence, we are twice told that the fish is a small one. Notice that the clauses are connected in a repetitive manner - "and he was... and he swam..."
