Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, March 4, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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sporty
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Declension with AdverbsWe can inflect adverbs when we want to compare the degree to which two actions are performed (comparative adverbs), or to identify the highest degree of how an action is performed (superlative adverbs). What is the progression of inflection for adverbs known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 OleanderOleander is an evergreen shrub that grows well in warm subtropical regions and is native to a broad area that extends from Morocco to China. Its fragrant flowers grow in a variety of colors, and it is widely used as an ornamental plant in landscapes and parks. It is also one of the most poisonous known plants and contains several toxic, sometimes deadly, compounds. Even its bark contains rosagenin, which is known for its strychnine-like effects. Why is oleander the official flower of Hiroshima? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Collinwood School Fire (1908)In one of the deadliest disasters of its kind in the United States, 172 children and three adults were killed when an elementary school caught fire in Collinwood, Ohio. Though the building's doors opened outward, they were fitted with regular door latches instead of panic bars, which hindered the evacuation. As the conflagration rapidly spread, many children became trapped. Within two years of the disaster, residents of Collinwood voted to make what dramatic change to their community? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jack Sheppard (1702)A popular English criminal who served as the basis for the character Macheath in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, Sheppard was arrested and imprisoned five times in 1724 alone. The first four times, he escaped. The fifth time, he was executed. Because his crimes were all non-violent, he was well liked, especially by the lower classes, and he became a fixture in the folklore of the era. His execution resembled a party, with the 22-year-old stopping to do what on his way to the gallows? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Sometimes I wonder why God ever trusts talent in the hands of women, they usually make such an infernal mess of it. I think He must do it as a sort of ghastly joke.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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put the hammer down— To press down the accelerator (of an automobile) as far as possible; to accelerate to or travel at an automobile's maximum speed. Primarily heard in US. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Bahrain Spring of Culture (2022)In recent decades, the government organizations of Bahrain have worked toward making its national arts program as robust as its oil industry. The Spring of Culture Festival, held every March in the capital city of Manama, helps fulfill this cultural mission and promotes tourism to the country. Thanks to its reputation as a meeting place between the East and the West, Spring of Culture is able to attract performers from all over the world. National, regional, and international artists converge on Manama to perform poetry readings, music, theater, and dance. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tossfungo - A baseball drill in which a batter tosses a ball in the air and hits it as it descends, probably from Scottish fung, "to pitch, toss, fling." More... jactitating, jactitation, jactation - If you toss and turn at night, you are jactitating; jactitation or jactation is restless tossing or twitching. More... saute - A form of French sauter, it means "to leap or cause to toss." More... walk - First meant "roll," "toss," or "move about; go"—from Old English wealcan, "to roll." More... | |