Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, October 9, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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bumpkin
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Emphasizing Duration with the Present Perfect ContinuousThe present perfect continuous is especially useful for putting emphasis on the length of time that has passed while something is happening. What is the present perfect continuous verb in the following sentence? "They have been studying for three weeks for this exam." More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Filk MusicFilk is a musical genre that grew out of the science-fiction and fantasy fan community. During the early days of science-fiction conventions, many participants would gather for late-night singing sessions. The phenomenon has since spread to include professional recordings and conventions devoted entirely to filk. Though filkers have been known to write songs about a variety of topics, most songs reference specific works of fiction or cultural aspects of fandom. How did the genre get its name? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Phantom of the Opera Premieres in London (1986)Based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1986. In 2010, it celebrated its 10,000th performance at the same venue. It opened in New York in 1988, and went on to become the longest-running musical on Broadway. It is also the most financially successful entertainment project of all time, having earned billions of dollars. What is the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Alfred Dreyfus (1859)In 1894, French Army intelligence discovered that military secrets were being leaked to Germany. Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French Army, was blamed and convicted—twice—on insufficient and forged evidence. He was imprisoned on Devil's Island. The affair became a national scandal amid reports that the army, permeated by anti-Semitism, had covered up evidence of his innocence. He was pardoned by the president in 1899 and cleared by a civilian court in 1906. Who was probably the real traitor? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Life for most people compels the exercise of the lower gifts and wastes the precious ones, until it forces us to agree that there is little virtue, as well as little profit, in what once seemed to us the noblest part of our inheritance.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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inside and out— Thoroughly; down to the last detail. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Birthday of Guru Ram Das (2020)Ram Das (1534-1581) was the fourth of the ten Sikh gurus and the son-in-law of Amar Das, the third guru. After he was chosen to succeed his father-in-law, his name was changed from Bhai Jetha to Ram Das, which means "God's Servant." His birthday is celebrated during the month of Asun (September-October) in Sikh gurdwaras, or houses of worship, with prayers, the singing of hymns, and with readings from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scriptures. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: operaopera - Actually the Latin plural of opus, "labor, work." More... prima donna - Meaning "principal female singer in an opera," it is from the same Italian phrase meaning "first lady"; the meaning "temperamental person" was first recorded in 1834. More... primo vomo - The principal male singer in an opera. More... soap opera - Goes back (1939) to the early days of radio suspense serials, which were mainly sponsored by soap-makers; the "opera" part is an echo of the earlier "horse opera"—a Western (1927). More... | |