Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, April 14, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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ether
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adverbial ObjectivesAdverbial nouns are nouns or noun phrases that function grammatically as adverbs to modify verbs and certain adjectives. They are sometimes referred to as "adverbial objectives" because they hold a position normally occupied by a verb's direct object, yet they act as an adverb to modify the verb with an aspect of time, distance, weight, age, or monetary value. What is the adverbial objective in the following sentence? "This wine is aged 25 years." More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SnakesSnakes are scaly, cold-blooded, carnivorous reptiles related to lizards. They tend to be limbless and move by muscular contraction. Though they have razor-sharp teeth, they do not chew their prey but instead swallow it whole with the help of a loosely attached jaw. Because their bodies are tubular, some paired organs must be staggered within the body, and one of the two lungs is generally non-functional and sometimes even absent. Why are snakes associated with healing and medicine? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 John Wilkes Booth Shoots Lincoln (1865)Booth was an American actor and Confederate sympathizer who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC, during a performance of Our American Cousin. Shortly after 10 PM on April 14, 1865, Booth slipped into the presidential box unobserved, shot Lincoln in the head, and vaulted to the stage, breaking his leg in the process. According to witnesses, he then shouted "Sic semper tyrannis," Virginia's state motto. What does the Latin phrase mean? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Rod Steiger (1925)American actor Rod Steiger got his start in the 1950s and quickly made a name for himself in Hollywood. Over the course of the next five decades, he appeared in dozens of motion pictures. He was thrice nominated for an Academy Award and won once—for his portrayal of Sheriff Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night. As a teen, Steiger ran away from home to join the US Navy during World War II, but later his refusal to glorify war led him to turn down the title role in what film? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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park the bus— In football (soccer), to employ all (or nearly all) of a team's active players in defending its own side of the pitch. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Takayama Matsuri (2022)Held twice a year in Japan, in the spring and the autumn, the Takayama Festival is famous for its elaborately decorated yatai (festival floats), which are adorned with beautiful fabrics, lacquered wood, and patterned metals. Twelve of these floats appear at the April festival, held at Takayama's Hie Shrine, and 11 participate in the October festival. Some yatai feature performances of kabuki (puppet plays), often performed by mechanical marionettes. A highlight of the festival is the parade of gongs known as tokeigaku, which produce a unique kind of folk music. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mountainsmassif - A compact group of mountains or a mountain range section; it first meant "building block" and the word massive is derived from that. More... Idaho - Shoshone for "light on mountains." More... orogenesis, orogeny - Orogenesis is the formation of mountains (Greek oros) and orogeny is the process by which mountains are formed. More... ultramontane - Means "beyond the mountains." More... | |