Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, January 26, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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sidestep
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Semi-Modal Auxiliary VerbsSemi-modal auxiliary verbs, often simply called semi-modal verbs, are verbs that sometimes behave like modal auxiliary verbs. What four verbs are widely considered the standard set of semi-modal verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Alchemy in the Islamic WorldIn the 8th century, alchemy, a pseudoscience focused on transforming base metals into gold, reached the Islamic world. Over the next several centuries, Muslim alchemists revolutionized the field, introducing scientific method into alchemical research and developing apparatuses like the alembic, still, and retort, which are still in use in laboratories today, and chemical processes such as pure distillation and filtration. Which Arab alchemist has been called "the father of chemistry"? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss Premieres (1911)Still regularly performed, Der Rosenkavalier is one of the most acclaimed comic operas of Richard Strauss, the leading composer of romantic opera in the early 20th century. It is loosely based on the works of Molière and Louvet de Couvrai and tells the story of the shifting romantic attachments of four principal characters. Strauss, who often abandoned tonality to emphasize the humor or drama of a scene, composed Der Rosenkavalier in collaboration with what poet? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Paul Leonard Newman (1925)Newman was an American actor who captured the darker, less heroic aspects of his best-remembered roles, such as those in The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting. After eight nominations, he finally won an Academy Award for The Color of Money in 1986. In 1982, he launched his "Newman's Own" line of food products, donating the profits to various charitable causes. Why was Newman once placed on Richard Nixon's enemies list? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.Washington Irving (1783-1859) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a bit beyond (one's) ken— Advanced beyond one's ability to understand or make sense of the subject matter or task at hand. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 India Republic Day (2020)This holiday is an important national festival in India, celebrating the day in 1950 when India's ties with Britain were severed and the country became a fully independent republic. The holiday is marked with parades and much celebration in all the state capitals, but the celebration in Delhi is especially grand. There is a mammoth parade with military units, floats from each state, dancers and musicians, and fly-overs. Independence Day on Aug. 15 is also a national holiday, but is observed chiefly with speech-making and none of the grandeur of Republic Day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shakingpulsatilla - Can refer to the shaking of a flower in the wind. More... quassation - The act or process of being shaken or shaking. More... concussion - Its underlying etymological notion is of "violent shaking," from Latin concutere, "shake violently." More... Shaker - The Shakers got their name from the shaking and convulsive movements they made during worship. More... | |