The word "motives" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to the reasons why somebody does something. For example: "The investigator tried to uncover the murderer's motives for committing the crime."
Nor is it clear that Lee's motives are always purer than the careerist agenda he identifies elsewhere.
I regret that my question could be misinterpreted, and that it enabled many to ignore the substance of the question – and Putin's evasive response – in order to speculate, wildly and incorrectly, about my motives for asking it.
The place turns out to be a brightly lit cell in the Ministry of Love, where O'Brien tortures Winston and reveals – as villains of fiction often do – his methods and motives.
Over the years I have received dozens (perhaps hundreds) of emails and letters that insult me personally, or question the motives of my research.
Combined with the pseudo-green motives of the political right, this invites a devastating future.
Yet if he had come clean about his decisions to go to war, if he had not mislead the international community on his motives, we would not be seeing a unanimous dragging of heels when it comes to intervention in Syria.
The Tories' motives may be cynical as they are anxious to their green credentials which they see as a vote winner, but at least they have opened up the debate which Labour has refused to embark on.
Rosie Carter is cynical about their motives: "There hasn't been an accident in the 27 years we've lived here.
But it's rarely that easy, any more than the resigner's complex motives are to disentangle.
Because the arguing and screaming started early – even before the telly coverage – about anything and everything: the motives of the minx Sturgeon, whether Putin was a pleasant fellow or not, and was Ukip racist.
The desperate search for motives, sifting hopelessly through his rap lyrics for clues, is indicative of how misplaced this approach is.
