Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, March 4, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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sporty
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Gerunds as Objects of VerbsGerunds very frequently function as the direct objects of "true" verbs. What type of verb is very likely to take a gerund as an object? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 OleanderOleander is an evergreen shrub that grows well in warm subtropical regions and is native to a broad area that extends from Morocco to China. Its fragrant flowers grow in a variety of colors, and it is widely used as an ornamental plant in landscapes and parks. It is also one of the most poisonous known plants and contains several toxic, sometimes deadly, compounds. Even its bark contains rosagenin, which is known for its strychnine-like effects. Why is oleander the official flower of Hiroshima? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Chicago Is Incorporated as a City (1837)In 1803, the US Army built Fort Dearborn on a tract of land along the Chicago River that had been acquired from the Native Americans after the Northwest Indian War. Over time, the settlement that grew up around the fort was incorporated as a city. A major port and the commercial, financial, industrial, and cultural center of the Midwest, Chicago is now the third-largest city in the US. Its name is derived from the Native American word shikaakwa, meaning "onion field," a reference to what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678)Vivaldi was an Italian composer, considered the greatest master of Italian baroque. He became a priest in 1703 and spent most of his life after 1709 in Venice, teaching and playing the violin and writing music for the Pietà, a music conservatory for orphaned girls. Although he produced vocal music, including 46 operas, Vivaldi is best known for instrumental music, including The Four Seasons and nearly 500 concertos for violin and other instruments. Why was he nicknamed the "Red Priest"? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Sometimes I wonder why God ever trusts talent in the hands of women, they usually make such an infernal mess of it. I think He must do it as a sort of ghastly joke.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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arm's length— A distance intentionally kept from something or between something, equal (literally or figuratively) to an arm's span. Typically used in the phrase "keep at an arm's length." More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Eight-Hour Day (Western Australia) (2019)Each of Australia's states celebrates the improvements that have been made in working conditions with its own Labor Day. In Western Australia it is celebrated on the first Monday in March. The Eight-Hour Day holiday is marked with parades and celebrations to commemorate trade union efforts to limit working hours. In many places, people still chant the unions' slogan: "Eight hours' labor, eight hours' recreation, and eight hours' rest!" More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: objectivelimited war - A war whose objective is of smaller scope than total defeat of the enemy. More... institution - First a noun of action or process that became a general and abstract noun describing something objective and systematic. More... purposely, purposefully - Purposely means "intentionally, on purpose," while purposefully means "with a specific purpose or objective in mind." More... safe, secure - Safe and secure, now nearly synonymous, used to be more different; secure was subjective—man's own sense of the absence of danger—while safe was objective, the fact of such absence of danger. More... | |