Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, March 29, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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perquisite
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Auxiliary VerbsAuxiliary verbs are verbs that add functional meaning to other "main" or "full" verbs in a clause. They are used to create different tenses or aspects, to form negatives and interrogatives, or to add emphasis to a sentence. What are auxiliary verbs also called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SumerThe Sumerian civilization was the world's earliest civilization, developing at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in lower Mesopotamia in about 3500 BCE. The Sumerians had a well-organized communal life and were adept at building canals and irrigation systems. Unfortunately, the evaporation of irrigated waters led to increased soil salinity and greatly reduced agricultural yields, weakening the predominantly agricultural civilization. What form of writing did the Sumerians invent? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Routledge Expedition Arrives at Easter Island (1914)Today known by its traditional name of Rapa Nui, Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited locations on Earth. The first study of the island by outsiders was undertaken by British archaeologist Katherine Routledge, who spent 16 months on Rapa Nui studying its indigenous Polynesian culture. She interviewed residents and catalogued the island's now-famous stone statues. Her scholarship proved to be invaluable to later researchers. Why did Routledge's husband eventually have her kidnapped? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sam Walton (1918)Born in Oklahoma and raised in Missouri during the Great Depression, Walton opened his first five-and-dime franchise in Arkansas in 1945. Seventeen years later, he opened his first Wal-Mart and began developing the Wal-Mart company into a national chain of massive, centrally controlled discount stores in small towns. By the time Walton died in 1992, his family was the wealthiest in the US, and Wal-Mart had become the country's largest retailer. How was Walton forced out of his first store? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Scarcely one person in a thousand is capable of tasting the happiness of others.Henry Fielding (1707-1754) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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(as) quick as a bunny— Incredibly quickly or speedily. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Boganda Day (2021)In the Central African Republic, Boganda Day marks the anniversary of the death of Barthélemy Boganda, the nation's first prime minister, who died in a plane crash on March 29, 1959. Boganda had been a driving force in the creation of the Central African Republic, which became a self-governing republic in 1958. He was also a leader in the movement to unite black African nations. Boganda Day is a national holiday in the Central African Republic; all banks, official government offices, businesses, and schools are closed. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: hurtaposiopesis - Stopping in the middle of a statement upon realizing that someone's feelings are hurt or about to be hurt; when a sentence trails off or falls silent, that is an aposiopesis. More... innocent - From Latin in-, "free from," and nocere, "hurt, injure." More... innocuous - "Harmless, not hurtful," from Latin in-, "not," and nocere, "to hurt." More... collide - Its Latin base is laedere, "hurt by striking." More... | |