Today's Highlights
| Word of the Day | |||||||
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forebear
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Comparative Adverbs in Affirmative StatementsIn affirmative statements, we can use comparative adverbs to describe change or differences between two things within one sentence. What word is used after the comparative adverb in such a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Eyeball TattooingFirst used by Roman physician Galen in the 2nd century, eyeball tattooing has been practiced for centuries to disguise deformities of the cornea such as opaque white scar tissue. The procedure involves injecting dye directly into the cornea. Though it is usually performed on eyes that have already lost sight, corneal tattooing can also be used to improve vision, such as by reducing glare resulting from other eye surgeries. Which US state outlawed cosmetic tattooing of the white part of the eye? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US Supreme Court Declares Home VCRs Legal (1984)After Sony introduced the Betamax home video tape recorder in the mid-1970s, Universal Studios sued, alleging that Betamax facilitated copyright infringement by allowing users to make copies of television programs. After an eight-year legal battle, the US Supreme Court ruled that using the new technology to "time-shift" one's television viewing constituted fair use. By then, Betamax had been eclipsed by the VHS format. What later case concerned the "space-shifting" of media? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Anne Brontë (1820)Though often overshadowed by her more famous sisters, Charlotte and Emily, Anne Brontë was a novelist and poet in her own right. She possessed a style distinct from the romanticism of her sisters, and her works—which include Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall—have been praised for their realism and moral force. Like her five older siblings, Anne died of tuberculosis at a fairly young age. After she died, who prevented her controversial second novel from being reprinted? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 My toast would be, may our country always be successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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junkyard dog— An especially nasty, vicious, or savage person or animal (especially a dog). Of a person, often used in the phrase "meaner than a junkyard dog." More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of St. Anthony the Abbot (2021)St. Anthony the Abbot was one of the earliest saints, and, if St. Athanasius's biography of him is correct, Anthony lived more than 100 years (251–356). He eventually came to be regarded as a healer of animals as well as of people. His feast day is celebrated in Mexico and other parts of Latin America by bringing household pets and livestock into the churchyard, where the local priest blesses them with holy water. All the animals are carefully groomed and often decorated with ribbons and fresh flowers. In some Latin American cities, the Blessing of the Animals takes place on a different day—often on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pointedapothegm - A terse, pointed saying or pithy maxim; it is pronounced AP-uh-them and may also be spelled apophthegm. More... downward-facing dog - Also called downward dog, it is a yoga pose in which the hands and feet are on the floor and one's rear end is pointed up so that the body is in an upside-down V. More... fastigate - To make pointed. More... innuendo - Latin for "by nodding at, pointing to," or "intimating," from in-, "toward," and nuere, "nod." More... | |
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| Mismatch | |
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