Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, November 12, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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borderland
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Imperative SentencesWe use imperative sentences to give orders, commands, and general instructions. Such sentences are said to be in what mood? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Running the GauntletThe phrase "running the gauntlet" is used figuratively today to mean enduring a series of punishments or tests. It derives from the Roman form of military execution known as fustuarium, in which a soldier found guilty of laxity was cudgeled to death by his comrades. In some later traditions, the condemned was forced to pass between two rows of armed soldiers and pardoned if he managed to exit the other side. "The gauntlet" is also a type of athletic drill used in training for what sports? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Remains of Explorer Robert Scott and His Men Are Found in Antarctica (1912)The Scott party reached the South Pole in January 1912 after a grueling two-and-a-half month journey across Antarctica, only to find that another group had beaten them to it weeks earlier. On the return trek, Scott and his entire team died. Seven months later, a search party found their final camp, retrieved Scott's records, and buried the bodies under a cairn of snow. It is now believed that Scott was the last to die. In his final diary entry, written on March 29, Scott makes what request? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651?)Today considered one of the greatest lyric poets of colonial Mexico, Sor Juana abandoned her life as a favorite at the viceroy's court to join a convent at the age of 16. There, she immersed herself in learning. Criticized by her superiors, she penned a passionate defense of women's education that became a classic. Despite having earned wide acclaim as a poet, she ceased writing publicly under pressure from church officials. Devoted to spirituality in her final years, she died doing what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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keep (one's) slate clean— To maintain an impeccable record; to refrain from committing any mistakes or wrongdoings. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Birth of Baha'u'llah (2020)The anniversary of the birth in 1817 of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i religion, is a holy day on which work is suspended. Mirza Husayn Ali, later known as Baha'u'llah ("Glory of God"), was born in Tehran, Persia (now Iran). He was an adherent of Islam, and later a follower of the Bab, who founded the Babi faith, an independent messianic religion. Thirteen years after the Bab's execution in 1850, Husayn Ali declared himself the messenger of God, foretold by the Bab. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: uproardonnybrook - Donnybrook is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, once famous for its annual fair and now used to describe a scene of uproar or disorder. More... hurly-burly - Turmoil or an uproar. More... rum - Once known as rumbo, rumbowling, rumbustion, or rumbullion—from a Devonshire word meaning "uproar." More... stampede - From Mexican Spanish estampida, "crash, uproar." More... | |