Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, December 6, 2020)Word of the Day | |||||||
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oeuvre
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Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Comma SplicesA comma splice occurs when we join two independent clauses with a comma. Why can't we use a comma in this situation? More... |
Article of the Day | |
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![]() The Azusa Street RevivalDespite its brief heyday, the Azusa Street Revival is thought to have been a catalyst for the spread of Pentecostalism. The religious meeting, which was racially integrated, began in 1906 and was held in a run-down Los Angeles building that had once been used as a stable. At its height, it attracted hundreds of people to its three daily services. Accounts from members describe worshippers speaking in tongues and being healed of sicknesses. What did newspapers of the day say about the movement? More... |
This Day in History | |
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![]() The Banana Massacre (1928)In December 1928, after a month-long strike to secure better working conditions, United Fruit Company workers from the Colombian town of Ciénaga gathered with their families in the town square to hear a scheduled gubernatorial address. Instead of words they were met with bullets fired by government troops. An unknown number died that day. The government took such decisive—and deadly—action to end the strike partly out of fear that US interests in the United Fruit Company would lead to what? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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![]() Henry VI of England (1421)Henry VI became king of England when he was not yet nine months old. That same year, the English proclaimed the infant the successor to the French throne, but France did not recognize this. The young monarch grew up to be a mild, honest, and pious man, a patron of literature and the arts. He was, however, also mentally unstable, weak-willed, and politically naive, and this created a power vacuum that his overly powerful ministers vied to fill, eventually resulting in what decades-long conflict? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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![]() Willa Cather (1873-1947) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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have a mind like a sieve— To be exceptionally forgetful or absentminded. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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![]() St. Nicholas's Day (Greece) (2021)As the patron saint of ships and seamen, St. Nicholas is very important to the Greeks, so many of whom have traditionally made their living at sea. Many Greek ships, from the smallest fishing boat to the largest commercial vessel, carry an icon of the saint on board. Seamen honor St. Nicholas on his feast day, which falls at a time of year when storms grow more frequent, by burning a light before his icon and saying prayers for the safety of their boat or ship. More... |
Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: plasterdrywall, plasterboard - Drywall is a building material made of a sheet of plaster covered with heavy paper on both sides; it is also called plasterboard. More... gypsum - From Semitic, a relative or ancestor of Arabic jibs and Hebrew gephes, "plaster." More... plaster of Paris - So called because it is prepared from the gypsum of Paris, France. More... trullization - Laying on plaster with a trowel. More... |