Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, January 1, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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burgeon
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Conjunctive Adverbs and PunctuationWhen we join two independent clauses with a conjunctive adverb, they are traditionally separated with a semicolon. It is also acceptable to use a period and keep them as two discrete sentences. Either way, the conjunctive adverb typically begins the second clause and is followed by what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Narmer PaletteDating from about the 31st century BCE, the Narmer Palette has been called "the first historical document in the world." The 25-inch (63-cm), shield-shaped palette is carved from a single piece of flat siltstone and has survived 5,000 years in almost perfect condition. It contains some of the earliest known hieroglyphic inscriptions as well as the earliest known depictions of an Egyptian king. Some scholars believe it depicts what event that, according to tradition, took place under King Menes? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Takes Effect (1994)Signed by Canada, Mexico, and the US, NAFTA created the world's largest free-trade area. The agreement immediately lifted tariffs on the majority of goods produced by the signatory nations, and it called for the gradual elimination of most of the remaining barriers to cross-border investment and to the movement of goods and services among the three countries. Critics claim that NAFTA has led to job loss in the US due to the prevalence of maquiladoras, which are what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Alfred Stieglitz (1864)Stieglitz was the first art photographer in the US. More than any other American, he compelled the recognition of photography as a fine art. After editing a series of photography magazines, he established the famous gallery "291" in New York City. The gallery soon broadened its scope from fine-art photography and introduced to the US works by members of the modern French art movement, including Cézanne and Picasso. It also exhibited the works of what American artist whom Stieglitz later married? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Be not penny-wise; riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go through a phase— To experience or be in the midst of a temporary period of change, development, or fluctuation. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of Fools (2020)A mock-religious festival popular during the Middle Ages in Europe, particularly France, the Feast of Fools had much in common with the Roman Saturnalia. Various classes of the clergy took turns reversing the normal procedures in the church—the group to whom the day belonged would nominate a bishop and archbishop of fools, ordaining them in a mock ceremony and then presenting them to the people. They would dance and sing obscene songs, play dice or eat at the altar, burn old shoes in the censers, and engage in other activities that would normally be unthinkable. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: narrativenarratage - The technique of having one character in the role of storyteller or the act of inserting bits of explanation into a narrative. More... narrative - First an adjective meaning "telling the facts of a story," from Latin narrare, which is also the base of narrate. More... | |