Topic 2.2.2: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. History. Pronouns “Some, Any, No” and their derivatives.             

Task1. Read the text and do exercises in the attached  file. Send your answers to my e-mail by 21/04/2020. Then do “Comprehension Check”.

English History

The United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These four nations have a common history, political system and culture,
but there are also many important differences.

The Roman province of Britannia covered most of present-day England and Wales, where the Romans imposed their own way of life and culture, making use of the existing Celtic aristocracy to govern and encouraging them to adopt Roman dress and the Latin language.

In AD 43, forty thousand Roman soldiers invaded England
from the area of Europe that is now Italy. The Roman army was very
well-organized and had good weapons. The soldiers built a wall around
themselves every night so they were safe. They moved across the country,
fighting and winning battles against the different tribes, and after four
years they controlled the south of England.

The Romans had to fight for many years before they controlled all of
England. They made many changes in the country, such as building towns
and cities, and good roads. They brought a new language to England - Latin
- and made laws, so people knew what they could and could not do. The
religion of Christianity came to England in Roman times too. However, almost the only lasting reminders of their presence are place names like Chester, Lancaster and Gloucester, which include variants of the Latin word castra (a military camp).

But after AD 250, Roman soldiers began to leave England. They had to fight in other parts of the world, and it was too expensive and difficult for them to keep England safe. By AD 411, all the Roman soldiers had left England.

During the fifth century, a number of tribes from the European mainland invaded and settled in large numbers. Two of these tribes were the Angles and the Saxons. These Anglo-Saxons soon had the south-east of the country in their grasp. The Anglo-Saxons had little use for towns and cities. But they had a great effect on the countryside, where they introduced new farming methods and founded the thousands of self-sufficient villages which formed the basis of English society for the next thousand or so years.

It was the Anglo-Saxons that slowly became dominant, bringing a new language and culture to the British Isles. During the seventh century, they began to convert to Christianity. Over time, the land of the Angles became known as “England”, and today the English identify themselves as Anglo-Saxons as passionately as the Welsh, Scottish and Irish call themselves Celts.

Britain experienced another wave of Germanic invasion in the eighth century. These invaders, known as Vikings, Norsemen or Danes, came from Scandinavia. In the ninth century they conquered and settled the islands around Scotland and some coastal regions of Ireland. Their conquest o f England was halted when they were defeated by King Alfred of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex (K in g Alfred) As a result; their settlement was confined mostly to the north and east of the country. However, the cultural differences between Anglo-Saxons and Danes were comparatively small. They led roughly the same way of life and spoke different varieties of the same Germanic tongue. Moreover, the Danes soon converted to Christianity. These similarities made political unification easier, and by the end of the tenth century, England was a united kingdom with a Germanic culture throughout. Most of Scotland was also united by this time, at least in name, in a (Celtic) Gaelic kingdom.

Without doubt, the Norman Conquest in 1066 was a turning point in British history. Harold II of England was the last ever Anglo-Saxon monarch, but the Duke of Normandy, William, believed the throne was his. An army of 60,000 men, commanded by Duke William of Normandy, landed in Sussex in 1066. In the battle of Hastings, Harold the English king was killed and William claimed England. Norman French became the language of administration and justice, and had a lasting influence on the development of the English language.

The Normans ruled large parts of the British Isles with an iron fist, building impressive castles to control the lands violently taken from the Anglo-Saxons.

In response to the tyranny of King John (1199-1216), the noblemen of England drew up a document designed to limit the powers of the king and guarantee the rights of the people. The king met the barons at Runnymede, near Windsor, and was forced to sign this famous charter of personal and political liberty called “Magna Carta”, the Great Charter. It was an important symbol of
political freedom. In fact Magna Carta gave no real freedom to the majority of people in England. The nobles who wrote it and forced King John to sign it had no such thing in mind. They had one main aim: to make sure John did not go beyond his rights as feudal lord.

The nobles did not allow John's successors to forget this charter and its promises. Every king recognized Magna Carta, until the Middle Ages ended in disorder and a new kind of monarchy came into being in the sixteenth century.

In 1509 Henry VIII was crowned king. Eighteen years old, he was a keen sportsman and musician, and became the patron of the New Learning, the Renaissance. Henry created a separate Church of England, independent from Rome, and proclaimed himself its supreme head.

Henry VIII is one of the most well-known monarchs in English history,
chiefly because he took six wives during his life. He was a natural
leader but not really interested in the day-to-day running of government
and this encouraged the beginnings of a professional bureaucracy. It was
during his reign that the reformation took place. In the 1530s, Henry used
Parliament to pass laws which swept away the power of the Roman Church
in England. However, his quarrel with Rome was nothing to do with doctrine.
It was because he wanted to be free to marry again and to appoint who he wished as leaders of the church in England. After breaking with the Vatican, Henry married his already pregnant mistress, Anne Boleyn, who was his wife's lady-in-waiting. She was the second of six wives in total - two he divorced,
two he beheaded and one died a natural death. He had also previously written a polemic against Protestantism, for which the pope gave him the title Fidei Defensor (defender of the faith). The initials F.D. still appear on British coins today.

Henry dissolved monasteries, taking their land and treasures for the state. This was the start of a long and bitter religious divide in Britain. In the decades that followed, thousands of Catholics and Protestants were tortured and executed because of their religious beliefs.

The golden age

Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Her 45 years on the throne from 1558 to 1603 are often referred to as the “golden age” in British history. Elizabethan England produced the playwrights William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe as well as musicians like William Byrd and Thomas Tallis. Francis Bacon developed the scientific method, which became a central element of the Enlightenment. Men on ships went out to explore new continents, and Sir Francis Drake became the first Brit to sail around the world in 1580. Eight years later, the same man led the British fleet against the Spanish Armada when King Philip II of Spain attempted to invade Britain.

Elizabeth was a popular and charismatic monarch. The “Virgin Queen” never married, claiming she was devoted only to her country. She had moderate religious views and allowed different beliefs, as long as these remained private. However, several Catholic plots threatened her life. One of these was linked to her cousin Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, who Elizabeth finally had executed after 19 years in jail.

After Elizabeth’s death the English throne went to Mary Stuart’s Protestant son James, who had been King of Scotland since he was a baby. In
1605, a group of Catholic conspirators rented a cellar next to the Houses of Parliament. They hid 36 barrels of gunpowder underground and prepared to blow up King James and his government on 5 November. Fortunately, the plot
was discovered by spies and stopped just in time. One of the traitors, Guy Fawkes, was caught and tortured for two days until he revealed the secrets of his group.

England became a united nation in the 10th century and took control of Wales in 1284 under Edward I. To symbolize his power, the English king made his son Prince of Wales - a title that is still used for the British heir to the throne.
Scotland was an independent nation for several centuries. When Elizabeth I died
without an heir in 1603, King James VI of Scotland became King of England, too.
Even though the two countries now shared a monarch, they remained separate
states until 1707, when Scotland decided to join the United Kingdom.  English rule in Ireland began in the 12th century. In 1536, Henry VIII named himself King of Ireland and many non-Irish nobles were given land and power in the years that followed, especially in the north. Ireland finally joined the United Kingdom in 1801, but it was not a happy marriage. In 1922, after years of conflict and fighting, the south broke away from the union, while the north decided to remain in the UK.

Fill in the table with the events from the text:

Complete the chart using a dictionary or the text:

Match the definitions with the words and write down your answers in the table below:

Comprehension Check

True or False

1. In AD 43, forty thousand Roman soldiers invaded England
   from the area of Europe that is now France.
2. Henry VIII is one of the most well-known monarchs in English history,
   because he took six wives during his life.
3.  Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII, was on the throne from 1558 to 1603 are often referred to as the “golden age” in British history.
4. Sir Francis Drake became the second Brit to sail around the world in 1580.
5. After Elizabeth’s death the English throne went to James, who had been King of Scotland.
6. England became a united nation in the 11th century.
7. Ireland finally joined the United Kingdom in 1801.

Task 2. Read the theory p. 99-101.

http://elib.bspu.by/handle/doc/19837

Do grammar exercises in your exercise-books p.102-103 ex. 1,2,5.

http://elib.bspu.by/handle/doc/19837

Now do grammar exercises on-line

https://learningapps.org/864837

Task 3. Intonation of Apologies. Watch a short video .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr3dFyaRLSo