Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, November 18, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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bourdon
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Subject-Verb Agreement with Uncountable NounsBecause uncountable nouns cannot be plural, it is very important to use the correct subject-verb agreement. What form of a verb must uncountable nouns take? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Camels, the Even-Toed UngulatesCamels, ruminant mammals of the family Camelidae, are well adapted to desert life, as they can live for several days without drinking and their broad, flat, two-toed feet do not sink in the sand. There are two species of true camel, the single-humped Arabian camel, a domesticated animal used in Arabia and N Africa, and the two-humped Bactrian camel of central Asia. The humps, fat stores that provide energy and water when metabolized, also aid in desert survival. How fast can a camel run? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 William Tell Shoots an Apple Off His Son's Head (1307)Tell is a famous Swiss folk hero who is remembered in a 15th-century chronicle as an expert marksman who assassinated a tyrannical Austrian governor. According to the legend, the governor of Tell's Swiss canton hung his hat on a stake and ordered all the townsfolk to bow to it whenever they passed. When Tell refused, he was ordered to shoot an apple off his son's head with a crossbow as punishment. He succeeded and later escaped imprisonment to kill the governor—an event that led to what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832)Nordenskiöld was a Finnish-born Swedish geologist, mineralogist, geographer, and explorer who wrote several valuable books on geography, cartography, and travel. In 1858, he settled in Stockholm and became professor and curator of mineralogy at the Swedish State Museum. He led several expeditions to the Arctic island of Spitsbergen between 1864 and 1873 and later became the first to sail from Norway to Alaska through the Northeast Passage. He was also the first to break through what ice barrier? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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Is the glass half empty or half full?— A question to determine whether a given situation could be perceived optimistically or pessimistically. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Latvia Independence Day (2015)Independence Day marks Latvia's declaration of independence from German and Russian occupation on November 18, 1918. The country remained independent until World War II, when it was absorbed by the Soviet Union. Like the other Baltic republics, Latvia proclaimed its independence from Soviet Russia in 1991, on August 21. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: punchpunch buggy - A game in which the first player to call "punch buggy!" on sighting a Volkswagen Beetle gets to punch the other person. More... doust - A firm blow or punch. More... pack a punch, pack it in - Pack a punch is of U.S. origin from the 1920s, as is pack it in. More... punch - Has an obscure origin, but stories include it being from Sanskrit panca, "five/five kinds of," as the drink had five ingredients. More... | |