Question

Passage 1: from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (1898)

It was at ten o'clock to-day that the first of all Time Machines began its career. I gave it a last tap, tried all
the screws again, put one more drop of oil on the quartz rod, and sat myself in the saddle. . . . I took the
starting lever in one hand and the stopping one in the other, pressed the first, and almost immediately the
second. I seemed to reel; I felt a nightmare sensation of falling; and, looking round, I saw the laboratory
exactly as before. Had anything happened? For a moment I suspected that my intellect had tricked me.
Then I noted the clock. A moment before, as it seemed, it had stood at a minute or so past ten; now it was
nearly half-past three!
The purpose of a time machine is _____.
to tell time
to travel through time
to increase the number of hours in a day
to give the writer something to do

Answer 1

Hello there.

Passage 1: from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (1898)
It was at ten o'clock to-day that the first of all Time Machines began its career. I gave it a last tap, tried all
the screws again, put one more drop of oil on the quartz rod, and sat myself in the saddle. . . . I took the
starting lever in one hand and the stopping one in the other, pressed the first, and almost immediately the
second. I seemed to reel; I felt a nightmare sensation of falling; and, looking round, I saw the laboratory
exactly as before. Had anything happened? For a moment I suspected that my intellect had tricked me.
Then I noted the clock. A moment before, as it seemed, it had stood at a minute or so past ten; now it was
nearly half-past three!
The purpose of a time machine is _____.

to give the writer something to do

Answer 2

I think the correct answer from the choices listed above is the last option. The purpose of a time machine is to give the writer something to do. It does not mean literally to travel through time. It was just an object for the writer. Hope this answers the question.