Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, April 28, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Demonstrative PronounsDemonstrative pronouns are pronouns used to replace nouns or noun phrases in a sentence, representing that which is nearby or far away in space or time. Because demonstrative pronouns are less specific than the nouns or noun phrases they replace, what must be used for clarity? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Four Stages of CrueltyThe Four Stages of Cruelty is a series of four engravings published in 1751 by William Hogarth, an English artist credited with pioneering Western sequential art. Each print depicts a stage in the life of the fictional Tom Nero. Beginning with the torture of a dog as a child, Nero progresses to beating his horse, and then to robbery and murder. In the final scene, which is grisly even by modern standards, Nero's body is dissected after his execution. Why did Hogarth create the series? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Charles de Gaulle Resigns as President of France (1969)A celebrated general and statesman, de Gaulle was elected first president of France's Fifth Republic—a system of government with broad executive powers—in 1959. He helped write the constitution and pushed for direct popular election of the president. The mass civil unrest of May 1968 by students and workers almost toppled his government, and in 1969 de Gaulle was defeated in a referendum on constitutional amendments and resigned. He died just a year later. Whom did he bar from his funeral? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Nelle Harper Lee (1926)The daughter of an Alabama lawyer, Lee studied law before publishing her first novel in 1960. To Kill a Mockingbird, the story of a white lawyer who defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl, immediately found national acclaim. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was adapted for film the next year, but Lee largely stayed out of the spotlight. What did she once write in response to a school board's decision to ban her novel? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 By the power of filial reverence and parental affection, individual existence is extended beyond the limits of individual life, and the happiness of every age is chained in mutual dependence upon that of every other.John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have the say— To have the ultimate authority to command, control, or make a decision. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Butter and Egg Days (2018)This is a promotional event in Petaluma, California, that recalls the historic days when Petaluma was the "World's Egg Basket," producing millions of eggs that were shipped all over the world. The first Butter and Egg Days was a modest affair in 1983; it now draws about 25,000 for a parade with floats, bands, bagpipers, and children dressed as such things as butter pats and fried eggs. There are also street fairs, an antiques show, an egg toss, a butter-churning contest, and the presentation of the Good Egg award to a Petaluma booster. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pleasantamicable, amiable - Amicable implies being well disposed; amiable is acting well disposed and is commonly applied only to people—though sometimes it is used for occasions, while amicable is not applied to people at all but to human interactions and their outcomes. Amiable first meant "kind" or "lovely, lovable," and amicable first applied to things and meant "pleasant, benign." More... jolly - Comes from Old French jolif, "merry, festive, pleasant." More... merry - First meant "peaceful" or "pleasant," which is what it first meant in "Merry Christmas." More... | |