Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, December 7, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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drivel
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Avoiding Unnecessary PrepositionsWhile it is perfectly correct to end a sentence with a preposition, we must be careful that we do not include extraneous prepositions that do not serve a grammatical function. What is the very common error in the following sentence? "Where are you at?" More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 WheeliesA wheelie is an acrobatic stunt in which a vehicle's front wheel—or wheels—is lifted off the ground so that the vehicle is momentarily balanced on its rear wheel or wheels. Wheelies can be performed on bicycles or motorcycles, or even in cars. In mountain biking, the move helps racers navigate large obstacles. Due to the stunt's dangerous nature, drivers in a number of countries are prohibited from "popping" wheelies on public roads. What is the world record for the fastest motorcycle wheelie? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Mary Toft Admits That She Did Not Really Give Birth to Rabbits (1726)Toft, an English servant, had a bizarre 15 minutes of fame in 1726 when she convinced doctors that she had given birth to a litter of rabbits. At age 25, Toft suffered a miscarriage. About a month later, she appeared to go into labor and proceeded over the next few weeks to "birth" several animal parts along with nine baby bunnies. The episode was attributed to a fascination with rabbits that Toft had developed during her pregnancy—until it was revealed to be a hoax. How had she pulled it off? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gerard Peter Kuiper (1905)The "father of modern planetary science," Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper made many discoveries about the solar system, among them the presence of a methane atmosphere around Saturn's satellite Titan and a carbon dioxide-rich one on Mars and the existence of Uranus's satellite Miranda and Neptune's satellite Nereid. He also proposed the existence of a disk-shaped region of minor planets and comets—now called the Kuiper belt—outside Neptune's orbit. What did he help identify on the Moon? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 So the days pass, and I ask myself sometimes whether one is not hypnotized, as a child by a silver globe, by life, and whether this is living.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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mind the gap— An audio or visual instruction used in the UK and Ireland to be careful stepping over the space between a train's carriage and the platform when boarding or disembarking. Primarily heard in UK, Ireland. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Burning the Devil (2021)La Quema del Diablo takes place in Guatemala. Men dressed as devils chase children through the streets from the start of Advent until December 7, the eve of the Immaculate Conception. On this day, trash fires are lit in the streets of Guatemala City and other towns, and the devils' reign of terror comes to an end. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: limitsdeterminer - A word that limits or indicates the scope of a noun. More... modifier, qualifier - A word or phrase that limits or qualifies the sense of another is a modifier or qualifier. More... temper - Originally a proportionate mixture, is from Latin temperare, "to mix correctly; regulate" or "to keep within limits." More... | |