What is analyzing the prompt mean?

Analyzing the prompt is knowing who your audience is and what you are writing (type of writing: informative, opinion, narrative). Here is a sample topic: Are dogs better, or cats? Why? If it doesn't say who you are writing to, assume you are writing to your teacher (make it "formal writing"). You are chosing one animal and deciding which pet is better and why. You should come up with at least 3 reasons (2 if you can give more details on those reasons).