Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, December 12, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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large-minded
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Factitive Verbs vs. Causative VerbsCausative verbs tie a subject to other parts of the sentence that reveal more about the subject. In this way, they serve a similar function to factitive verbs. How do the two types of verbs differ? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The OrmulumWritten in about 1180 by an Augustinian canon of Lincolnshire named Ormin, the Ormulum is a collection of homilies on the Gospels consisting of almost 19,000 lines of Middle English verse. Because Ormin uses his own system of spelling to indicate the proper pronunciation of his words, the Ormulum is invaluable to philologists studying Middle English phonology and tracing the development of English through the Norman conquests. Who is Walter, mentioned in the work’s dedication? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Clapham Junction Rail Crash (1988)Near London on the morning of December 12, 1988, the driver of the 7:18 train from Basingstoke to Waterloo saw a signal in front of him abruptly change from green to red. He stopped his train and called the signalman, who told him to proceed. Before he could, however, the 6:14 from Poole rammed into his train's rear at about 40 mph (64 km/h). Then, an empty train traveling in the opposite direction hit the wreckage. The crashes killed 35 and injured hundreds more. What caused the signal failure? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Helen Frankenthaler (1928)A member of abstract expressionism's second generation, Frankenthaler was greatly influenced by Jackson Pollock. Inspired by his way of working on a canvas laid on the floor rather than mounted upright, Frankenthaler developed a technique for staining unprimed canvases with thinned pigments that she poured. Her work gave rise to the color-field movement of the late 50s. An appointee to the National Endowment for the Arts, she controversially opposed government grants to artists on what grounds? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties.Agatha Christie (1890-1976) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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mission creep— The gradual expansion or widening in scope of a project, action, or task, especially a military operation, beyond its initial goal or objective. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (2021)Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico, and on December 12, thousands of pilgrims flock to her shrine at the famous Church of Guadalupe outside Mexico City. On the evening of December 11, crowds gather for singing and special ceremonies at midnight, which are carried on national television. This great religious festival commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill, north of present-day Mexico City. The story is reenacted in a puppet show each year, and relics of Our Lady of Guadalupe are sold in the streets. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mysteriousarcane - Meaning "hidden, secret; mysterious, abstruse," it is from Latin arcere, "shut up," from arca, "chest." More... god moves in a mysterious way, the worse for wear, variety is the spice of life - "God moves in a mysterious way" originated with poet William Cowper—as did the phrases "the worse for wear" and "variety is the spice of life." More... handwriting on the wall, writing on the wall - Handwriting on the wall (or writing on the wall) comes from the Bible (Daniel 5:5-31), in which the prophet interprets some mysterious writing that a disembodied hand has inscribed on the palace wall, telling King Belshazzar that he will be overthrown. More... fluence - To put the fluence on is to use one's mysterious, magical, or hypnotic power. More... | |