Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, June 21, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Gerunds as Objects of VerbsGerunds very frequently function as the direct objects of "true" verbs. What type of verb is very likely to take a gerund as an object? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Simonetta VespucciSimonetta was the Genoese wife of the Italian nobleman Marco Vespucci of Florence. Renowned as the greatest beauty of her age, she was the subject of countless portraits, including many by the Italian master Sandro Botticelli. Some claim that the goddess depicted in Botticelli's masterpiece, Birth of Venus, was modeled after Simonetta, even though she died at the age of 22—several years before it was completed. What fact about Botticelli's burial place lends credence to the theory? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Texas v. Johnson Decided (1989)Texas v. Johnson was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag. The opinion of the court came down as a controversial 5-4 decision, with the majority opinion written by William J. Brennan, Jr. In it, the Supreme Court answered the question of whether the desecration of an American flag, by burning or otherwise, is a form of speech protected under the First Amendment. What arguments did the justices make? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Prince William (1982)The eldest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, Prince William is second in line for the British throne. In 2011, he wed Catherine Middleton in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey, broadcast live on televisions around the globe and watched by tens of millions of people. Their first child, Prince George, was born in July 2013. Dubbed Wills by the popular media, Wombat by his mother, and Billy the Fish by his Air Force buddies, William is known in official circles by what title? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is unsafe to take your reader for more of a fool than he is.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be the pits— To be particularly bad, unfortunate, or awful, especially of a situation or outcome. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Greenland National Day (2022)The people of Greenland celebrate National Day on June 21, the longest day of the year. They call the holiday Ullortuneq in Greenlandic, which means "the longest day." They celebrate the occasion with communal picnics, shows, and many cultural activities. Since Greenland's current flag was formally instituted on June 21, 1985, they also honor the national flag on this day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: proveprobe, prove, probable - Latin probare, "approve, prove, test," is the source of English probe and prove. From that came Latin probabilis, "provable," which became English probable. More... sooth, soothsayer, soothe - Sooth, "true, truth," or "that which is," is part of soothsayer; it is related to soothe, which once meant "assent to be true; say yes to," or "to prove or show a fact to be true." More... approve - Its original sense was "prove, demonstrate." More... rebut, refute - To rebut a statement is to offer clear evidence or a reasoned argument against it; to refute a statement is to prove it wrong (neither means "contradict" or "deny"). More... | |