CHARLES reluctantly summoned his Parliament in 1640 – for the first time in “eleven years’ tyranny”, as they called it — and acceded to their demands. But Protestant firebrand John Pym then reignited the feud with his ‘Grand Remonstrance’, a wide-ranging indictment of the King’s governance and his failure to crush Catholic rebellion in Ireland.
On January 4th, 1642, the King himself burst into the Commons to arrest Pym and four equally troublesome MPs, an unwarrantable invasion and a grievous error of judgment. Charles fled to Oxford, and gathered an army. His opponents at Westminster also raised troops, and the country found itself at civil war.
By 1646, it was evident that Charles was losing. He turned to the Scots for help, but they had neither forgotten nor forgiven, and handed him over to Westminster. A specially assembled Parliament, from which all Charles’s sympathisers had been expelled, pronounced him guilty of treason, and on a snowy January 30th, 1649, King Charles I was publicly beheaded in Whitehall.
By convention, the King did not enter the Commons, and no British monarch has set foot there since. As it happened, Pym and the others had been tipped off and were not present, leaving Charles looking rather foolish.
Précis
Although Charles gave in to his Parliament in 1640, continued criticism goaded him into a strategic mistake which soured relations with Parliament to the point of civil war. By 1646 it was turning against him. The Scots betrayed him into Westminster’s hands, and after a brief and biased trial he was found guilty of treason and executed in January 1649. (60 / 60 words)
Although Charles gave in to his Parliament in 1640, continued criticism goaded him into a strategic mistake which soured relations with Parliament to the point of civil war. By 1646 it was turning against him. The Scots betrayed him into Westminster’s hands, and after a brief and biased trial he was found guilty of treason and executed in January 1649.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, if, must, not, or, ought, whether, who.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Country. More. Political.
2 Arbitrary. Could. Treason.
3 Call. Coke. Revise.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
frgs (5+1)
forages. foregoes. forges. forgoes. frogs.
frigs.
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