Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 3, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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rootless
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Collective Adjectives and Verb TenseCollective adjectives are a subgroup of nominal adjectives, or adjectives that act as nouns. They are used to refer to a group of people based on a characteristic that they share. What verb forms do collective adjectives have to take? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Tillia TepeTillia Tepe, which literally means "Golden Hill" in Persian, is an ancient necropolis in northern Afghanistan that dates to the 1st century BCE. In 1979, a year before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a Soviet-Afghan team of archaeologists discovered some 20,000 gold ornaments in six graves at the site. The treasure went missing in subsequent wars and was thought to have been destroyed by the Taliban, but it has since been rediscovered and widely exhibited. To whom did the gold first belong? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Australia's Last Execution (1967)In the 16 years leading up to the execution of Ronald Ryan for the killing of a guard during a prison break, every single death sentence in Victoria, Australia—35 in all—had been commuted to life in prison. By then, two Australian states had abolished capital punishment for murder, and many in Victoria were under the impression that it had done the same. The decision to carry out Ryan's execution was widely protested. How many of the jurors who had convicted Ryan later petitioned on his behalf? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Elizabeth Blackwell (1821)Blackwell chose to pursue a medical education at a time when doctors were almost exclusively male. Consequently, she was rejected by many medical schools before one in New York accepted her. In 1849, she became the first woman in the US to receive a medical degree, but her struggle did not end there. Barred from practice in most hospitals, she, her sister, and another female doctor founded their own practice and later a women's medical college. How did a joke gone wrong give Blackwell her start? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything.L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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pay (one's) last respects— To show or express one's respect for someone who has died, especially by attending their funeral, wake, memorial service, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Agatha Festival (2022)Sant' Agata (St. Agatha) is especially revered in Catania, Sicily, where her relics are preserved in a silver casket. On February 3, 4, and 5 each year, a silver bust of St. Agatha wearing a jewel-encrusted crown is carried in procession from the cathedral to Catania's various churches. Included in the procession are the ceri, huge wooden replicas of candlesticks that are carved with episodes from the saint's martyrdom. The streets are lined with streamers and flowers, and illuminated by strings of colored lights after dark. The festival ends with a fireworks display in the piazza. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: privatecloset - First denoted a private or small room. More... privilege - Derives from Latin privus, "private," and leg/lex, "law." More... privity - The state of being private or secret. More... secretary - Comes from Latin, meaning "confidential officer," and first denoted a person, such as a confidant, entrusted with private or secret matters; it should be pronounced SEK-ruh-tair-ee. More... | |