Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, July 11, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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prorogue
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Negative Interrogative SentencesNegative interrogative sentences (sometimes called interro-negative sentences) are interrogative sentences that are made negative. How are these sentences constructed? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 HephaestionHephaestion was a Macedonian general who supervised the foundation of cities and colonies in Bactria, central Asia, and India. He was a close friend of Alexander the Great, who called him "my Patroclus"—in reference to the friend of the Greek hero Achilles. In 324 BCE, Hephaestion married Alexander's sister-in-law, Drypetis, but died suddenly in the same year at Ecbatana, the capital of ancient Media, in what is now northwestern Iran. How did Alexander mark Hephaestion's death? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Los Alfaques Disaster (1978)The Los Alfaques disaster was an explosion that took place near a campsite in Tarragona, Spain, when a leaking tanker truck loaded with 23 tons of highly flammable liquid propylene ignited. This resulted in a massive explosion and fireball that reached over 1000° F (538° C) and destroyed everything within a 1000-ft (300-m) radius. It killed 217 people, including the truck's driver, and severely burned more than 200. What regulations were later instituted to prevent future disasters of this sort? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561)Góngora was a poet of the Spanish Golden Age who successfully wove Renaissance and popular poetry into an original and elegant form. Very influential in his era, he developed the difficult, complex poetic style that became known as Gongorism. It provoked enmity from many of his contemporaries and was so exaggerated by less gifted imitators that his reputation suffered until the 20th century. He has since been called Spain's greatest poet. What is his most famous work? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 As the viper, though it kills with it, does not deserve to be blamed for the poison it carries, as it is a gift of nature, neither do I deserve reproach for being beautiful.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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devil in disguise— Something or someone that appears to be good, useful, or benevolent, but that in reality proves to be the opposite. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Naadam (2019)This Mongolian festival spotlights the "three manly games" for a Mongolian, and its history goes back to the 13th century. Today, it is held from July 11-13 in provinces throughout the country. The fairs bring together the nomadic people, who pitch a city of yurts or gers (felt tents). Wrestling is usually the first event, the second is archery, and the last of the traditional sports is horse racing. When night falls, a bowed stringed instrument called a matouqin is played, and people sit by their yurts talking, dancing, and drinking butter tea and kumys. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: positivelitotes - From Greek litos, "simple, single," it refers to an ironical understatement (e.g. no small amount) or two negatives used to make a positive (e.g. it was not unsuccessful); it is pronounced lie-TOH-teez, LEYED-uh-teez, LID-uh-teez, or leye-TOHD-eez. More... set point - One's set point (for happiness) is a genetically determined level of happiness, to which one returns after positive or negative emotional experiences. More... Positive, comparative, superlative - Positive is the ordinary form of a word, with comparative conveying a sense of greater intensity of the adjective and superlative reflecting the greatest intensity of the adjective. More... acceptable face - The positive or reasonable side of something. More... | |