- Pardon my , but that's a damned shame!
- This contract is written in such complicated language that it’s all to me.
- You'll be in with your teacher if you don't hand in this assignment on time.
- Well, don't that beat the ! It's amazing what phones can do these days.
- The official story is that he's sick, but I think he's just taking leave.
- I know it's September, but don't get out your winter clothes just yet—this area often has an summer.
- The firm's CEO denounced the rumors of impending layoffs as being nothing more than whispers.
- Why are you home so early? Well, they made me walk .
- The students lined up and walked file into the auditorium.
- John is always lecturing me like a uncle, forgetting that I'm 40 years old!
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II Read the text and answer questions on it:
The English Reformation, which unfolded primarily between 1534 and 1559, was one of those transformative epochs when faith and politics collided with seismic force. Henry VIII’s decision in 1534 to break with Rome and establish the Act of Supremacy is often remembered as pragmatic rather than theological, and yet—pardon his French—it set in motion convulsions that changed England forever. For many ordinary parishioners, the sudden shift of allegiance from Pope to monarch was bewildering, almost as though the creeds they had grown up with were all Greek to them.
Parliament’s legislation made clear that those who resisted were swiftly in Dutch with the Crown; Sir Thomas More’s execution in 1535 proved as much. When the monasteries were dissolved in the late 1530s, villagers might have exclaimed, “Well, don’t that beat the Dutch!”—for vast lands and treasures were redistributed almost overnight. Henry himself did not take a French leave; he remained very much present, directing both the doctrinal and financial spoils of the upheaval.
The short-lived reign of Edward VI (1547–1553) seemed like an Indian summer for Protestant reformers, as the Book of Common Prayer was introduced and the Church of England leaned closer to Geneva. But Mary I’s accession in 1553 reversed much of this, and in the atmosphere of persecution, rumours spread like Chinese whispers, with heresy trials inspiring fear across the realm. Many Protestants, unwilling to recant, were forced to walk Spanish—fleeing into continental exile.
When Elizabeth I ascended in 1558, her settlement in 1559 required that her subjects march in Indian file behind her middle way, outwardly conforming to the re-established Anglican Church. Elizabeth, like a stern Dutch uncle, tolerated little dissent yet maintained a balance that preserved national unity. To her Protestant supporters, the Reformation brought literacy, empowerment, and the circulation of the Bible in English; to her Catholic critics, it left scars of division, the destruction of monastic charity, and decades of suspicion.
Yet, in retrospect, the English Reformation stands as both a triumph of sovereignty and a tragedy of conscience—a paradoxical legacy whose echoes still resonate today.
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Which years frame the main period of the English Reformation in the text?
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What decisive 1534 measure severed England’s allegiance to Rome, and who enacted it?
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Which high-profile execution illustrated that dissenters were “in Dutch” with the Crown, and in what year did it occur?
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What happened to the monasteries in the late 1530s, and what was a major social or economic consequence?
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Why is Edward VI’s reign (1547–1553) described as an “Indian summer” for reformers, and what key liturgical change marked it?
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How did Mary I’s accession (1553) alter the religious course, and which phrase in the text captures the climate of rumor and fear?
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What did Elizabeth I’s 1559 settlement require of subjects, and how does the text characterize her governance style?
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To differentiate among the three Christian religions in Great Britain, do this matching exercise
Text A. Rooted in Western Christianity under papal authority, this religion treats Scripture and Tradition as co-authoritative and recognizes seven sacraments (baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, holy orders, penance, anointing of the sick). It affirms transubstantiation in the Eucharist and maintains a hierarchical structure led by the Pope and bishops. Before the Reformation in England, its institutions—parishes, monasteries, pilgrimages—shaped daily religious life and social welfare.
Text B. Emerging from the sixteenth-century reforms of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, this religion places final authority in Scripture alone (sola scriptura) and teaches salvation by faith alone (sola fide). Most traditions retain two sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) and reject transubstantiation—some hold a spiritual or “real” presence, others a symbolic view. Worship centers on preaching and Bible reading in the vernacular, and church governance varies (episcopal, presbyterian, congregational) across denominations.
Text C. Established in England by the 1534 Act of Supremacy, this religion made the monarch—not the Pope—the Supreme Governor of the national church. Shaped further by the 1559 Elizabethan Settlement and the Book of Common Prayer, it presents a via media (middle way): Protestant doctrine and Scripture in English combined with Catholic-style liturgy, cathedrals, vestments, and an episcopal structure with bishops. This compromise sought religious uniformity while accommodating a range of private convictions.
