Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, December 14, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Indefinite Pronouns: People vs. ThingsBoth people and things can be identified in a sentence by an indefinite pronoun. Indefinite pronouns like "anyone," "everybody," "no one," and "someone" are only used to refer to people. What are some indefinite pronouns that are only used to refer to things? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SwaddlingSwaddling is the age-old practice of snugly wrapping infants in cloths or blankets so that movement of their limbs is tightly restricted. Originally believed to be an essential part of stimulating proper posture in infants, swaddling is still widely used today to settle and soothe irritable infants, supposedly by providing warmth and security for a baby who has recently left the womb. Swaddling should be stopped once the baby learns to do what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Dayton Agreement Is Signed in Paris, France (1995)The Dayton Agreement was a peace agreement that put an end to the Bosnian War that began in 1992. The accord was the result of a meeting between Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian leaders under US auspices in Dayton, Ohio. It called for a Bosnian republic with a central government and two semiautonomous regions roughly equal in size—one dominated by Serbs and the other by Bosniaks and Croats in federation. Later signed in Paris, the accord also provided for the dispatch of what military force? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Daniel De Leon (1852)A newspaper editor, De Leon joined the Socialist Labor Party in the US in 1890 and soon became one of its leaders. He led a radical faction that seceded from the Knights of Labor in 1895 and formed the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance (STLA). The STLA was later absorbed by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which he helped found in 1905. After being refused a seat at a 1908 IWW convention by extremists who favored violent tactics over political action, he founded what organization? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Consequences are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before—consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go out with a bang— To finish or cease doing something in a spectacular, great, or exciting manner. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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.jpg) Halcyon Days (2018)The ancient Greeks called the seven days preceding and the seven days following the Winter Solstice the "Halcyon Days." Greek mythology has it that Halcyone (or Alcyone), Ceyx's wife and one of Aeolus's daughters, drowned herself when she learned her husband had drowned. The gods took pity on her and transformed them both into kingfishers. Zeus commanded the seas to be still during these days, and it was considered a period when sailors could navigate in safety. Today, the expression "halcyon days" has come to mean a period of tranquillity, often used as a nostalgic reference to times past. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: streetsbed push - A fundraising event, sometimes run by hospitals, in which a wheeled bed is pushed through the streets to raise awareness of the campaign. More... on the wagon - Before paved roads, horse-drawn water wagons sprayed the streets to settle the dust, and anyone who had sworn abstinence from alcohol was said to have "climbed aboard the water wagon," later shortened to "on the wagon." More... juggernaut - Derived from Sanskrit Jagannamacrtha, "lord of the world," a title of Krishna, worshipped at an annual festival by the dragging of his image through the streets in a heavy chariot. More... one-way - Came into English in 1906 in reference to travel tickets, in 1914 in reference to streets, and in 1940 in reference to windows, mirrors, etc. More... | |