Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, March 30, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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baccarat
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The Past Emphatic TenseWe can form a positive sentence in the past simple tense by using the past emphatic tense. It is formed by using "did" before the main verb, which is in the present tense. The emphatic past tense places special emphasis on what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 ProteusProteus is an early sea-god of Greek mythology, an old man whose responsibilities include tending to Poseidon's seals. Though he is said to have the gift of prophecy, Proteus goes to go to great lengths to avoid disclosing this knowledge and only does so if trapped. A shape-shifter, he evades capture by changing his appearance. For this reason, the adjective "protean"—meaning "versatile" or "capable of assuming many forms"—is derived from his name. Who captures Proteus in Homer's Odyssey? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Thomas Cranmer Becomes Archbishop of Canterbury (1533)Cranmer was the archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. He promoted and proclaimed Henry's various marriages and divorces according to the king's will and endorsed the translation of the Bible into English. Though limited under Henry, Cranmer shaped the doctrinal and liturgical transformation of the Church of England during Edward's reign and was responsible for much of the first Book of Common Prayer. Why was Cranmer burned at the stake? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ingvar Kamprad (1926)As a boy, Kamprad showed a knack for business by buying matches in bulk and reselling them individually for profit. He grew up to establish home furnishing retail chain IKEA in 1943. In 1956, he debuted flat-boxed furniture, a revolutionary decision that enabled his company to bypass warehousing with in-store inventory and allowed customers to transport products easily. The first two letters of the acronym IKEA comes from Kamprad's initials, I.K. What do the letters E and A stand for? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The characteristic of coquettes is affectation governed by whim.Henry Fielding (1707-1754) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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(as) sick as a parrot— Thoroughly displeased, disappointed, or dejected (about something). Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Doctors' Day (2022)Since 1933, this day has been set aside to honor America's physicians. It is the anniversary of the day in 1842 on which Dr. Crawford W. Long removed a tumor from the neck of a man while the patient was anesthetized by ether. Dr. Long was the first acclaimed American physician to use ether as an anesthetic agent in a surgical procedure. The red carnation is the official flower associated with Doctors' Day. The American Medical Association promotes various activities to mark this day, including walk-a-thons and blood drives. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: interestedacquisitive - Means "very interested in acquiring money or material things." More... athenaeum - Can refer to "an association of persons interested in scientific and literary pursuits, meeting for the purpose of mutual improvement," or a reading room or library. More... speed dating - A type of matchmaking service in which participants meet for seven to eight minutes each before moving on to another participant, ultimately making a list of those they are interested in dating. More... imparlibidinous - When one partner is more interested in sex than the other, their relationship is imparlibidinous. More... | |