Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, July 17, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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labyrinthine
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Object ComplementsSometimes a verb is not complete with only a direct object, especially when that direct object is a person. More information about the object's relationship with the verb is required to form a complete thought. This additional information is known as the "object complement." Without an object complement, what question are we left asking about the direct object? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 DerringersThe term "derringer" derives from a misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous maker of small pocket pistols in the 1800s. Deringer's popular design was copied by gun makers across the globe, and "derringer" soon became a generic term for any pocket pistol. Derringers, which are usually the smallest handguns of a given caliber, are especially popular among women because they can be easily concealed in a purse or stocking. What notorious assassin used an original Deringer pistol? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Napalm Incendiary Bombs Dropped for First Time by US Air Force (1944)Napalm is an organic compound used to thicken gasoline for use as an incendiary in flamethrowers and firebombs. The thickened mixture burns more slowly and can be propelled more accurately and farther than gasoline. When it comes in contact with surfaces, including the human body, it sticks and continues to burn. It was developed and first used by the US in World War II. Its use in the Vietnam War became highly controversial. "Napalm" is a combination of what two words? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 S.Y. Agnon (1888)Agnon was an Israeli writer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest modern Hebrew novelists and short-story writers. Born into a Polish Galician family in what is now Ukraine, Agnon settled in Palestine in 1907. His fiction explores Jewish life from the late 18th century to the post-WWI period. The Day Before Yesterday, perhaps his greatest novel, examines the problems faced by the westernized Jewish immigrant to Israel. In 1966, Agnon shared the Nobel Prize in Literature with whom? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge.L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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false friend— A phrase, word, or letter that sounds or looks similar to one in another language or dialect but has a significantly different meaning. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (2019)The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics is a gathering in Fairbanks, Alaska, of Native people from throughout the state and Canada to participate in three days of games of strength and endurance. Events include the popular blanket toss, which originated in whaling communities as a method of tossing a hunter high enough to sight far-off whales. Also on the program are a sewing competition, a seal-skinning contest, Native dancing, and such events as the knuckle-hop contest, in which contestants get on all fours and hop on their knuckles. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: layersply - From Latin plicare, "fold," a thickness or any of the layers of a multilayer material, such as plywood. More... disk - The layers of cartilage and pulp between vertebrae. More... Neapolitan ice cream - Gets its name from its layers resembling the Italian flag. More... delaminate - To separate into layers. More... | |