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An Invention to Dye For: The Colour Purple Reading Answers

Bhaskar Das

Jul 5, 2025

An Invention to Dye For: The Colour Purple, an IELTS Reading Answer that contains 14 questions and needs to be completed within 20 minutes. An Invention to Dye For: The Colour Purple reading answers, also helps you to prepare for your IELTS exam. An Invention to Dye For: The Colour Purple consists of questions like: Does the following statement agree with the passage? Choose two letters and choose no more than two words. Participants should go through the IELTS Reading passage to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions.

An Invention to Dye For: The Colour Purple Reading Answers discusses the historical and cultural significance of the color purple, from its ancient associations with royalty to its modern accessibility thanks to William Perkin’s accidental invention of mauveine dye. Candidates can use IELTS reading practice questions and answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Topic:

A 19th century research chemist was trying to make medicine when, instead, he came up with a coloured dye that has ensured the world is a brighter place.

A.Of all the colours, purple has perhaps the most powerful connotations. From the earliest cultures to the present day, people have sought to harness its visual power to mark themselves out as better than those around them. From bishops to kings, pop stars to fashion models, its wearing has been a calculated act of showing off. In ancient Rome, for example, purple was such a revered colour that only the emperor was allowed to wear it. Indeed, an emperor who was referred to as porphyrogenitus, ('born to the purple') was especially important, since this meant that he had inherited his position through family connections rather than seizing power through military force.

B.But why purple? At that time, purple dye was an expensive substance produced in a complicated, foul-smelling and time-consuming process.

This involved boiling thousands of molluscs in water in order to harvest their glandular juices. The technique had originally been developed by the Phoenicians over a thousand years previously, and it hadn't changed since. Cheaper but poorer quality purple dyes could be made from lichens using an equally messy and unpleasant procedure, but they were not as bright, and the colour quickly faded. It was no surprise, therefore, that good purple dye was a rare and precious thing, and clothes dyed purple were beyond the financial means of most people.

C.However, times have changed. In the great consumer democracy of the 21st century, even the most humble citizen can choose it as the colour of their latest outfit. For that privilege, we must thank a young 19th century research chemist, William Perkin. A talented 15-year-old when he entered the Royal College of Chemistry in London in 1853, Perkin was immediately appointed as laboratory assistant to his tutor, August Wilhelm von Hofmann. He became determined to prove Hofmann's claim that quinine, a drug used to treat fevers such as malaria, could be synthesised in a laboratory. However, rather than the cure desperately needed for people dying from malaria in tropical countries, he produced little more than a black, sticky mess that turned purple when dissolved in industrial alcohol. Perkin's experiments could have been a complete waste of time, but to his surprise and, ultimately, financial benefit, his purple liquid turned out to be a long-lasting dye that was to transform fashion.

D.Perkin repeated his experiments in an improvised laboratory in his garden shed, perfecting the process for making the substance he had called mauveine after the French mallow plant. It was, says Simon Garfield, the author of Mauve which details Perkin's life and work, an astonishing breakthrough. 'Once you could do that you could make colour in a factory from chemicals rather than insects or plants. It opened up the prospect of mass-produced artificial dyes and made Perkin one of the first scientists to bridge the gap between pure chemistry and its industrial applications.' It didn't take long for the chemist, still only 18, to capitalise on his creation, patenting the product, convincing his father and brother to back it with savings, and finding a manufacturer who could help him bring it rapidly to the market. The buying public loved it, and clothes coloured with purple started appearing in shops up and down the country. Appropriately, considering the origins of Perkins' colour, he was to receive a helping hand from the two most important women of the day. Queen Victoria caused a sensation when she stepped out at the Royal Exhibition in 1862 wearing a silk gown dyed with mauveine. In Paris, Napoleon IlI's wife, Empress Eugenie, amazed the court when she was seen wearing it. To propel the scientist further on the way to a great fortune, the fashion of the time was for broad skirts that, happily for him, needed a lot of his revolutionary new dye.

E.Perkins, ever the serious scientist, would have been among the first to point out that his mauve is just one of a range of colours described in everyday language as purple. Not itself a true colour of the spectrum - that position is given to indigo and violet - purple normally refers to those colours which inhabit the limits of human perception in the area between red and violet. Newton excluded the colour from his colour wheel. Scientists today talk about the 'line of purples' which include violet, mauve, magenta, indigo and lilac.

F.In the alternative medical practice of colour therapy, which practitioners say can trace its origins back to ancient India, the 'purple range' colours of indigo and violet are vital. They refer to spiritual energy centres known as chakras and are situated in the head. The colours and their 'medical' qualities were first officially listed by the Swiss scientist Dr Max Luscher, who said that appropriately coloured lights, applied to specific chakras, could treat ailments from depression to grief. Julia Kubler is one of Britain's leading colour therapists and has been using colours to treat patients at her clinic at Manningtree, Essex, for 15 years. Purple, she says, 'is consistent with intuition and higher understanding, with spirituality and meditation. It combines the coolness of blue with a bit of red that makes it not just passive but active." It is hardly the most outlandish of claims for this most enigmatic of colours. Variously touted as the colour of everything from insanity to equality, it is enjoying a new role as the symbol of political compromise. Purple may have had its origins in the ancient world, but thanks to a young chemist, it still has a brilliant future.

Questions 27-32

The reading passage has six sections, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.

LIST OF HEADINGS

i. From the laboratory to the High Street

ii. Seeking royal supports

ili. An unexpected but fortunate side result

iv. The healing power of purple

v. An old problem

vi. Standing out from the crowd

vii. Finding an alternative cure for a common illness

viii. Part of a larger family

ix. An ancient manufacturing practice

Answer: vi. Standing out from the crowd

Supporting statement: "From bishops to kings, pop stars to fashion models, its wearing has been a calculated act of showing off."

Keywords: [standing out, bishops, kings, pop stars, fashion models]

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, lines 2–3

Explanation: This section discusses how purple has long symbolized power, status, and uniqueness, used by influential figures to distinguish themselves from others.

28. Section B

Answer: ix. An ancient manufacturing practice

Supporting statement: "This involved boiling thousands of molluscs... The technique had originally been developed by the Phoenicians over a thousand years previously…"

Keywords: [ancient, boiling molluscs, Phoenicians, dye process]

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, lines 1–4

Explanation: It explains the traditional and laborious method of producing purple dye in ancient times, which highlights its historical roots.

29. Section C

Answer: iii. An unexpected but fortunate side result

Supporting statement: "Rather than the cure desperately needed... he produced little more than a black, sticky mess that turned purple…"

Keywords: [unexpected, cure, sticky mess, purple dye]

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, lines 4–5

Explanation: This paragraph focuses on how Perkin, while trying to synthesize quinine, accidentally discovered the purple dye.

30. Section D

Answer: i. From the laboratory to the High Street

Supporting statement: "He... perfect[ed] the process... convincing his father and brother to back it... and finding a manufacturer…"

Keywords: [laboratory, public market, manufacturer, High Street]

Keyword Location: Paragraph D, lines 2–5

Explanation: It describes how Perkin's invention moved from scientific discovery to commercial success, reaching public consumers.

31. Section E

Answer: viii. Part of a larger family

Supporting statement: "Perkin... would have been among the first to point out that his mauve is just one of a range of colours described... as purple."

Keywords: [range of colours, mauve, violet, magenta]

Keyword Location: Paragraph E, lines 1–3

Explanation: This section explains that "purple" includes many related hues and discusses their classification.

32. Section F

Answer: iv. The healing power of purple

Supporting statement: "In the alternative medical practice of colour therapy... the ‘purple range’ colours of indigo and violet are vital."

Keywords: [colour therapy, healing, indigo, violet, chakras]

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, lines 1–3

Explanation: It focuses on the use of purple in alternative medicine for mental and spiritual healing.

Questions 33-34

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

What TWO points does the writer make about the colour purple and purple dye before

William Perkin's creation?

A. It was only used to colour clothes.

B. It was originally produced for Roman emperors.

C. It was not easy to make.

D. There were many different techniques used to make it.

E. Some purple dyes were inferior to others.

33. Answer: C. It was not easy to make

Supporting statement: "Purple dye was an expensive substance produced in a complicated, foul-smelling and time-consuming process."

Keywords: [expensive, complicated, time-consuming]

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, line 1

Explanation: The passage emphasizes the difficulty of the traditional process for making purple dye.

34. Answer: E. Some purple dyes were inferior to others

Supporting statement: "Cheaper but poorer quality purple dyes... were not as bright, and the colour quickly faded."

Keywords: [poorer quality, faded, not bright]

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, lines 3–4

Explanation: It compares high-quality dyes made from molluscs to inferior versions from lichens, showing the variation in quality.

Questions 35-36

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

What TWO things about William Perkin are true, according to the passage?

A. He taught Chemistry at a college in London.

B. He believed that quinine could be artificially produced.

C. He extracted the substance for his dye from a common plant.

D. He quickly realised the financial benefits of his new creation.

E. He set a new fashion trend for large skirts.

35. Answer: B. He believed that quinine could be artificially produced

Supporting statement: "He became determined to prove Hofmann's claim that quinine... could be synthesised in a laboratory."

Keywords: [quinine, synthesised, laboratory]

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, line 3

Explanation: Perkin’s original aim was to create artificial quinine to treat malaria.

36. Answer: D. He quickly realised the financial benefits of his new creation

Supporting statement: "It didn't take long for the chemist... to capitalise on his creation, patenting the product…"

Keywords: [capitalise, patenting, manufacturer]

Keyword Location: Paragraph D, lines 3–4

Explanation: He acted quickly to commercialize his discovery, involving his family and finding a manufacturer.

Questions 37-40

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each.

The purple range of colours plays an essential role in colour therapy, a form of 37…………

Answer: alternative medicine

Supporting statement: "In the alternative medical practice of colour therapy…"

Keywords: [alternative medicine, colour therapy]

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, line 1

Explanation: Colour therapy is described as a form of alternative medicine.

Colour therapy is said to have originated many years ago in 38…………..

Answer: ancient India

Supporting statement: "... which practitioners say can trace its origins back to ancient India…"

Keywords: [ancient India, origins]

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, line 2

Explanation: The passage attributes the roots of colour therapy to ancient Indian traditions.

and is still used by colour therapists such as Julia Kubler, who uses it to 39…………..

Answer: treat patients

Supporting statement: "... has been using colours to treat patients at her clinic…"

Keywords: [treat patients, clinic]

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, line 5

Explanation: Julia Kubler uses colour therapy with her patients for health-related issues.

with various health issues. According to Kubler, purple 40…………….

Answer: combines the

Supporting statement: "It combines the coolness of blue with a bit of red…"

Keywords: [combines the, blue, red]

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, line 6

Explanation: Purple is said to combine aspects of blue (calm) and red (energy), making it both active and passive.

Check IELTS reading samples:

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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