Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, May 14, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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torrid
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Nominalization (Creating Nouns)Nominalization is the creation of a noun from a verb or adjective. Most of the time, nouns are created from other parts of speech through the use of suffixes. What suffix is added to a verb to make a gerund? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Black DeathThe Black Death was a form of bubonic plague that was pandemic throughout Europe, the Middle East, and much of Asia in the 14th century. Thought to have been caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, it killed between one-third and half of Europe's population and at least 75 million people worldwide. Recently, it has been argued that the Black Death was not caused by bubonic plague, at all, but by what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Jamestown, Virginia, Founded (1607)Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. It was founded by the London Company on a peninsula—now an island—in the James River and named after the reigning English monarch, James I. Disease, starvation, and Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more men and supplies. A successfully exported strain of tobacco was cultivated there by a colonist named John Rolfe, who later married what Native American princess? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Pierre Victor Auger (1899)Auger was a French physicist who worked in the fields of nuclear and atomic physics and also advanced the study of cosmic rays. He directed the mathematical and natural sciences department at UNESCO from 1948 to 1959 and was instrumental in creating the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). In 1977, he was made a member of the French Academy of Sciences. The Auger effect as well as the world's largest detector of what are named after him? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is greater than the stars - that moving procession of human energy; greater than the palpitating earth and the things growing thereon.Kate Chopin (1851-1904) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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bon viveur— A connoisseur of food and wine. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Jamestown Day (2016)Jamestown, Virginia, is the site of the first permanent English settlement in America, and it is also home to some other firsts‐both good and bad. It established the first representative government on the continent and built America's first Anglican (Episcopal) church, but it also brought the first African slaves to the colonies. On Jamestown Day, a commemorative service is held at the original settlement site, with speeches, choral selections, and a procession to the Memorial Cross, which marks the town's earliest cemetery. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mineraldiamond - Developed from adamant—the name of the hardest stone or mineral of ancient times—from Latin adamans, from Greek adamas, "invincible" (a-, "not," and daman, "to tame"). More... Formica - Got its name from being created as a substitute "for mica," a mineral. More... mineral - Etymologically "something obtained by mining," from Latin minera, "ore." More... snow - Technically a mineral, it is Teutonic in origin, from an Indo-European root shared by the Latin words niv-/nix and Greek nipha; the spelling snow first appeared in English around 1200. More... | |