Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, May 19, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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magnum opus
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Major and Minor Sentences (Regular and Irregular Sentences)A major sentence is any complete sentence that contains an independent clause. Minor sentences do not have both a subject and a complete predicate. What are word sentences? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 CaviarCaviar is the roe, or eggs, of various species of sturgeon processed as a piquant table delicacy. Due to its high price, it is synonymous in Western culture with luxury and wealth. The best-known caviar comes from the countries on the Black and Caspian seas and the rivers that flow into them. In 2006, however, declines in sturgeon species led to a suspension of the international trade in nearly all caviar from wild Caspian sturgeon. Caviar should be served with utensils made from what material? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Nine-Year-Old Cynthia Ann Parker Kidnapped by Comanches (1836)Parker was a young girl when Comanches raided Fort Parker—located in what is now Texas—and massacred its inhabitants, capturing her in the process. Raised by her captors, she was adopted into the tribe and went on to bear the last great Comanche chief, Quanah Parker. At first, Quanah led raids on frontier settlements, but after his defeat and surrender, he learned to live alongside his white neighbors and eventually became the richest Native American in the US. What became of his mother? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Lorraine Hansberry (1930)At just 29 years of age, African-American playwright Lorraine Hansberry secured her place in theatrical history when she became the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Her acclaimed A Raisin in the Sun, a penetrating psychological study of a working-class African-American family in Chicago, was inspired in part by the discrimination and legal battle Hansberry's own family faced upon buying a home in a white Chicago neighborhood. Whose poem gave rise to the play's title? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune, for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works and of greatest merit for the public have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men, which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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kick the tires— To inspect or test something or someone to ensure that he, she, or it meets the required or expected standard of quality. Primarily heard in US, Canada. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Ho Chi Minh's Birthday (2021)Often referred to as the "father of modern Vietnam," Ho Chi Minh spearheaded the Vietnamese revolt against French and Japanese occupation. In 1954, after the French and Japanese left, the United States entered the scene, and it was during this struggle that Ho Chi Minh died in 1969. In 1975, North and South Vietnam united into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. On Ho Chi Minh's birthday each year, people hold parades in cities, carrying posters depicting him. Many women wear the áo dài, traditional Vietnamese dress. Speeches about Ho Chi Minh often follow the parades. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: officialbrevet - An official or authoritative message in writing. More... provost - Etymologically, an official "placed before" or "put in charge" of others, from Latin praepositus, "superintendent." More... bailiwick - Comes from bailie, "custody," and -wick, "function of an official" or "place of jurisdiction." More... probate - The official proving of a will, from Latin probatum, "thing proved." More... | |