Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, December 17, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Exclamation Points with OnomatopoeiasWhen we use onomatopoeias (words that phonetically imitate particular sounds), we can use an exclamation point to emphasize the intensity of the sound. Where is the exclamation point placed in the sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 OneOften known as the loneliest number, one, in mathematics, is the smallest whole number, the first cardinal number, and the first and second number in the Fibonacci sequence, the infinite sequence of numbers in which each term is the sum of the two terms preceding it. The glyph used today in the Western world to represent one—a vertical line, often with a serif at the top and sometimes a short horizontal line at the bottom—traces its roots back centuries. Is one a prime number? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Romanos Is Crowned Co-Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (920 CE)Romanos advanced through the ranks of the Byzantine military to become an influential figure in the royal court. In May 919, he arranged for the marriage of his daughter to the teenage Emperor Constantine VII and was declared "Father of the Emperor." The next year, he was crowned co-emperor, and he then made his own sons co-emperors. However, in 944, Romanos's sons arrested him and made him become a monk to prevent him from naming Constantine VII his successor. What happened to them? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Safire (1929)Safire was an American journalist and a speechwriter for US President Richard Nixon, who once ordered Safire's phone be tapped. In 1973, Safire became a syndicated political columnist for The New York Times, a post he held until 2005. A master of wordplay, he also wrote regularly on language-related topics. After Safire wrote a column in which he insulted a first lady, a White House aide remarked that if the president were not the president, he would have responded in what way? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It has been a bitter mortification for me to digest the conclusion that the 'race is for the strong' and that I shall probably do little more but be content to admire the strides others made in science.Charles Darwin (1809-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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inner circle— A small, exclusive, and intimate group of like-minded people sharing a common goal, pursuit, or purpose. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Wright Brothers Day (2020)It was on the morning of December 17, 1903, that Wilbur and Orville Wright became the first men to fly and control a powered heavier-than-air machine. Events on December 17 traditionally include a "flyover" by military aircraft and a special ceremony held at the Wright Brothers National Memorial, a 425-acre area that features a 60-foot granite pylon on top of Kill Devil Hill, where the Wright Brothers' camp was located. The flyover takes place at precisely 10:35 a.m., the time of the original flight in 1903. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: moundcauseway - A raised path, road, or way across a wet place or stretch of water—based on causey, "a mound, embankment, or dam to retain water." More... tumulus, barrow - A tumulus is the mound of earth placed over a tomb, synonymous with barrow. More... hill of beans - Refers to the planting practice of placing the seeds in clumps in a little mound (hill) of soil. More... | |