If Over the Course of a Year the Inflation Rate

If over the course of a year the inflation rate was about 3.24%, and short-term government bonds offered a rate of 2.9%, which of the following statement is correct?

A) The real interest rate for investors in these bonds was greater than the rate of inflation.
B) Investors in these bonds were able to buy less at the end of the year than they could have purchased at the start of the year.
C) The nominal interest rate offered by these bonds gave the true increase in purchasing power that resulted from investing in these bonds.
D) The purchasing power of investors in these bonds grew over the course of the year.