Studied English to become an author (5)
I believe the answer is:
reade
'an author' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'studied english' is the wordplay.
'studied' becomes 'read' (I've seen this before).
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'read'+'e'='READE'
'to become' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for reade that I've seen before include "Victorian writer" , "Charles --, English novelist" , "Victorian author" , "Charles -, The Cloister and the Hearth author" , "Roman name for York" .)