The Purple, White and Green: Suffragettes in London 1906-14: reading answers and analysis
A Museum of London exhibition presents the suffragettes' Women's Social and Political Union as a marketing pioneer. It built a corporate identity in purple, white and green, ran profitable newspapers with department-store adverts, sold branded goods and staged a hugely lucrative exhibition. Displays include banners, photographs, artwork, newsreels and the laws of 1918 and 1928 that won women the vote.
Questions 14-27 · 14 marks · 5 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The multiple choice (14-16) uses the opening paragraphs and the enfranchisement display near the end. The notes (17-19) are the three fund-raising paragraphs. YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (20-26) runs through the whole article, and question 27 is about the writer's overall verdict.
Questions 14-15
The exhibition focuses on the WSPU's marketing and organisational success (its corporate image), not violence or the Pankhursts. The WSPU succeeded because it gave the movement the cohesion and focus other groups lacked.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | C | — |
| 15 | D | — |
Question 16
The display boards near the end name the enfranchisement laws of 1918 and 1928. The other years in the options are the exhibition's dates (1906-14) and the Woman's Exhibition (1909).
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | C | — |
Questions 17-19
Each paragraph gives one source of money: the papers profited from advertising, the goods came in the movement's colour scheme, and the biggest single event was the 1909 Woman's Exhibition. The key accepts several forms of each.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | advertising | advertising space / selling advertising space |
| 18 | colour scheme | colours / three colours / purple, white and green / purple white and green / purple, white, green |
| 19 | the Woman's Exhibition | Woman's Exhibition / the Woman's Exhibition in 1909 |
Questions 20-26
Australia had already given women the vote by 1903 (NO). The WSPU reached as far as Scotland (NO), and its papers carried news of meetings and the movement, not gossip (NO). The papers were its main channels (YES), goods are on display (YES), and the 'antis' made films (YES). Parliament's reaction to the 1909 exhibition isn't mentioned.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | NO | — |
| 21 | YES | — |
| 22 | NO | — |
| 23 | NO | — |
| 24 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 25 | YES | — |
| 26 | YES | — |
Question 27
The last paragraph lists what the exhibition 'demonstrates', 'conveys' and 'illustrates', which is praise for how much it teaches. That makes it informative. It's positive, but not framed as exceptional.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | D | — |
The questions most people get wrong
NO. Australia had already enfranchised women before the WSPU formed in 1903, which is why British women wanted the same.
NOT GIVEN. The Woman's Exhibition raised a fortune in 10 days, but Parliament's reaction isn't mentioned.
D. Women left other, less directed groups for the WSPU because it gave the movement cohesion and focus. The passage stresses how limited communications were, so C is wrong.
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The full Cambridge 3 Test 4 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 3, Test 4, Reading Passage 2. The passage name belongs to Cambridge University Press. No passage text or question wording is reproduced on this page. The answers are published for self-marking, and the analysis is our own.