Read the following passage.
A. On 27 January 1914, Nellie McClung sat in the Manitoba legislature and listened closely to Premier Rodmond Roblin. Her suffrage group, the Political Equality League, had just failed to get the assembly to act on a large petition for women's right to vote. The next evening, at Winnipeg's Walker Theatre, she played the premier in The Women's Parliament, a satire put on by the league. It was set in an imagined province where only women could vote, and she copied Roblin's arguments as she turned away a delegation of men. Newspapers reported laughter and applause. In 1916, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to give women the vote.
B. By then McClung was already a popular author. Her first novel, Sowing Seeds in Danny, appeared in 1908 and became a best-seller. It grew out of a short story she had entered in a magazine contest in 1902, which she did not win. At a temperance convention in Manitou in 1907, she discovered that she had the power to move a crowd, and she was soon in demand as a speaker across the province. In 1915 she collected her speeches for suffrage and temperance in a book, In Times Like These. She wrote 17 books in all, and they were popular in her lifetime, but critics also called them didactic, or too keen to teach lessons.
C. In December 1914 the McClungs moved to Edmonton because of her husband Wesley's work. Alberta gave women the vote in 1916, and in 1921 McClung won one of Edmonton's seats in the provincial legislature as a Liberal. The United Farmers of Alberta formed the government, so her party sat in opposition. She often acted independently of her party. She supported public-health nurses, medical clinics and birth control, and also laws to limit the fertility of people judged mentally unfit. After moving to Calgary, she ran again in 1926 and lost, apparently because of her support for Prohibition.
D. In 1927 McClung joined Emily Murphy and three other women in asking whether women were 'persons' who could be appointed to the Senate. The Supreme Court of Canada said they were not, but in October 1929 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled in their favour. The five became known as the Famous Five. Her place in history is now argued over. Many scholars find her ideas too narrow, pointing to her assumption that Anglo-Celtic, middle-class people should lead and to her sympathy for eugenics, yet she is still the best-known figure of Canada's suffrage generation.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
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Correct Answer: C
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: she won an Edmonton seat as a Liberal in 1921. But the United Farmers of Alberta formed the government. Her party sat in opposition, so it was not in power.
Passage Reference: The United Farmers of Alberta formed the government, so her party sat in opposition.
Tips: She is linked to a legislature in more than one place. Ask which one says she won a seat, then check which group ran the province.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, she sits in the Manitoba legislature as a visitor who watched the premier. She was not an elected member there.
- B: The second paragraph covers her novels, her speaking tours and her book of speeches. It says nothing about winning an election.
- D: Paragraph D is about the Persons Case and how scholars judge her today. No seat or party appears there.
- E: Her 1921 win and her party's place in opposition are both reported in paragraph C.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: She supported public-health nurses, medical clinics and birth control, and also laws to limit the fertility of people judged mentally unfit.
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, the writer lists the causes she supported, including birth control, clinics and public-health nurses. No reason is given for her support. Nothing is said about mothers she had seen.
Tips: Paragraph C tells you what she supported. Ask whether it also tells you why.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes the Walker Theatre play and Manitoba's 1916 vote. Birth control is not one of its topics.
- B: The second paragraph is about her books and her speeches before she entered politics. It gives no health causes.
- C: Paragraph C is the closest: it names birth control among her causes. But it never explains why she backed it.
- D: In paragraph D, the text moves on to the Senate question and to how scholars see her now. It gives no personal reason for any cause.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: It grew out of a short story she had entered in a magazine contest in 1902, which she did not win.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph B says Sowing Seeds in Danny grew out of a short story. She entered it in a 1902 magazine contest, and she did not win. That story became the start of her first novel.
Tips: Look for a competition she lost. Then check that it is linked to her first novel.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about a play she acted in, The Women's Parliament, not about a novel or a writing contest.
- C: The third paragraph follows her move to Edmonton and her time as a Liberal member. No writing appears there.
- D: In paragraph D, you read about the Persons Case and today's debate about her ideas, not how her first novel began.
- E: Paragraph B links the 1902 contest story, which did not win, to Sowing Seeds in Danny.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: On 27 January 1914, Nellie McClung sat in the Manitoba legislature and listened closely to Premier Rodmond Roblin.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph A: she listened closely to Premier Roblin in the legislature on 27 January 1914. The next evening she played him on stage in The Women's Parliament and copied his arguments.
Tips: Two events happen on back-to-back days. Find the show, then read what she did the day before it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: A temperance convention appears in paragraph B, where she found she could move a crowd. But there is no politician she imitated.
- C: Paragraph C also mentions a legislature, the one in Alberta. But there she was an elected member, not an actor copying anyone.
- D: The fourth paragraph is about the court ruling on 'persons' and the debate about her views. There is no stage performance in it.
- E: She watched Roblin on 27 January and played him the next evening, as paragraph A tells us.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: She wrote 17 books in all, and they were popular in her lifetime, but critics also called them didactic, or too keen to teach lessons.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B ends by saying her 17 books were popular. But critics also called them didactic, or too keen to teach lessons. Trying too hard to instruct readers means the same thing.
Tips: The statement is about reviewers' view of her books. Find an opinion of her books that is not praise, and check what fault it names.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, there is laughter and applause for a play. It gives no criticism of her writing.
- C: The third paragraph lists causes she supported in the legislature, such as clinics and birth control, not opinions about her books.
- D: Paragraph D also has criticism. But it is about her ideas on who should lead and on eugenics, not about her books.
- E: The critics' judgement of her 17 books appears at the end of paragraph B.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: In 1916, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to give women the vote.
Why this is correct: The last sentence of paragraph A says that in 1916 Manitoba became the first province in Canada to give women the vote. So no province did it earlier.
Tips: Women win the vote in two provinces in the same year. Check which one the writer says came before all the others.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Her speeches for suffrage come up in paragraph B. But it does not say which province acted first.
- C: In paragraph C, Alberta gave women the vote in 1916. But the text does not say whether Alberta was first or second.
- D: The fourth paragraph is about the Senate and the word 'persons', not about the right to vote in a province.
- E: Paragraph A calls Manitoba the first province in Canada to give women the vote, in 1916.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: The Supreme Court of Canada said they were not, but in October 1929 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled in their favour.
Why this is correct: In paragraph D, the Supreme Court of Canada said the women were not 'persons' who could be named to the Senate. But in October 1929 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled in their favour. 'Turned the women down' matches the first ruling. 'Sided with them' matches the second.
Tips: Look for two decisions on the same question, one after the other, that went opposite ways.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: There is a failed petition to a provincial legislature in paragraph A, but no court and no Senate appointment.
- B: The second paragraph covers her novel, her speeches and her critics. There is no legal ruling in it.
- C: In paragraph C, the writer describes her work in the Alberta legislature and her 1926 defeat, not any court decision.
- E: Both rulings, the Supreme Court's and then the Privy Council's, are set out in paragraph D.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Her first novel, Sowing Seeds in Danny, appeared in 1908 and became a best-seller.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph B calls her first novel a best-seller and says her 17 books were popular. It never compares the sales of that novel with her later books.
Tips: A best-seller is not the same as her best-selling book. Look for a real comparison.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes one night at the Walker Theatre and the 1916 vote. No book sales are mentioned.
- B: Paragraph B is the closest: it calls the first novel a best-seller. But it does not rank it against her other books.
- C: In paragraph C, the topic is her years in Alberta politics, and her novels do not come up there.
- D: The fourth paragraph covers the Persons Case and how she is judged today, not how well her books sold.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: The next evening, at Winnipeg's Walker Theatre, she played the premier in The Women's Parliament, a satire put on by the league.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, she played the premier in The Women's Parliament, a satire put on by her league. We learn who acted and who staged it, but not who wrote the script.
Tips: Acting in a play and writing it are different jobs. Check which one the passage gives.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is the closest. It says she acted in the play and the league put it on, but no writer is named.
- B: Her novel and her book of speeches are listed in paragraph B, but no play script.
- C: The third paragraph follows her to Edmonton and Calgary. The Winnipeg play is not mentioned there.
- D: In paragraph D, the focus is the Senate case and modern opinions of her, not the theatre.
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