Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

Read the passage and select ALL statements it supports.

The invention of the mechanical clock in medieval Europe gradually reshaped daily life. Before clocks, people measured time loosely by sunrise, sunset, and the ringing of church bells. As public clocks appeared in town squares, communities began to organise work, markets, and meetings around fixed hours rather than the changing position of the sun. This new precision suited the growing towns, where merchants and craftsmen valued punctuality. Over time, the shared sense of standardised hours encouraged habits of scheduling that would later prove essential to industrial workplaces, where coordinated shifts depended on everyone agreeing on exactly what time it was.