Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 28, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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have-not
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Evaluative Adverbs that Indicate a Degree of CertaintyThere are several types of evaluative adverbs, which can be classified according to their function. We can use evaluative adverbs to state how certain we are about something. "Obviously" is an evaluative adverb that we can use in this way. What are others? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Somersett's CaseThe Abolition Act of 1833 may have abolished slavery in the British Empire, but the first step toward abolition was taken 60 years earlier in 1772, in a famous judgment known as Somersett's Case. In it, the Court of King's Bench held that without a law permitting slavery in England, courts could not uphold a slaveholder's claim to a slave. Although the decision did not state that slavery was illegal, it set a precedent that altered the course of slavery in England and abroad. Who was Somersett? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Harvard College Is Founded (1636)Founded with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Harvard College was named for its first benefactor, John Harvard. He bequeathed his books and about £780 to the fledgling college. The oldest and one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the US, Harvard originally trained Puritan ministers. Today, it has the largest university endowment in the US, estimated at more than $25 billion in 2009. Why did Harvard athletes first adopt the color red? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Evelyn Waugh (1903)Waugh was an English novelist who is widely considered the greatest satirist of his generation. His novels, characterized by sardonic wit, technical brilliance, and his devoted Catholicism, include A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited. Waugh also wrote amusing travel books. After service in World War II, he led a retired life, and his writing grew increasingly misanthropic. In 1925, Waugh's suicide attempt was thwarted when he was coincidentally attacked by what animal? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in the hope that— With the expectation, intention, or desire that (something will happen). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Jude's Day (2020)Because St. Jude is believed to have been martyred with St. Simon in Persia, where they had gone to preach Christianity, their feast is celebrated jointly on October 28, thought to be the date on which their relics were moved to old St. Peter's basilica. Since St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless causes, the saint day is observed particularly by students. St. Jude and St. Joseph traditionally are the most important saints to Roman Catholics in Buffalo, New York, where people buy St. Jude medals to help them win over impossible odds or achieve the unachievable. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: open spacelaund - An open space in the woods, like a glade or pasture. More... step-thru - Refers to having an open space in an otherwise solid object through which a person can step or walk, e.g. a motor-scooter has a step-thru frame. More... agoraphobia - Based on Greek agora, "open space," it was not the first phobia described, which was actually hydrophobia in the mid-16th century. More... concourse - An open space for people to move about in an airport terminal (or a set of gates) or other transport station. More... | |