Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, May 15, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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copycat
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Semi-Modal Auxiliary VerbsSemi-modal auxiliary verbs, often simply called semi-modal verbs, are verbs that sometimes behave like modal auxiliary verbs. What four verbs are widely considered the standard set of semi-modal verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 TimurTamerlane, or "Timur the Lame," was a 14th-century Turco-Mongol conqueror who claimed descent from Genghis Khan and considered himself the restorer of the Mongol Empire. After subduing his rivals in central Asia, he turned his attention to Persia and, later, to India, Syria, and Iraq. His conquests ultimately reached from India and Russia to the Mediterranean. A cruel conqueror, Tamlerlane is said to have massacred how many millions of people? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Great Gold Robbery (1855)On the night of May 15, 1855, a shipment of gold bars and coins was sent from London to Paris, first via the South Eastern Railway and then on a ship across the English Channel. When the shipment arrived in Boulogne, France, the containers—all of which were locked and sealed—were found to be missing a large amount of the gold, worth about 12,000 British pounds at the time. The missing weight had been replaced with lead shot. A group of men was later arrested for the theft. How had they done it? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (1857)Shortly after Fleming emigrated from Scotland to the US with her husband, their marriage failed. Forced to support herself, she worked as a housekeeper for the director of the Harvard College Observatory, who soon hired her to do clerical work at the observatory. She quickly rose through the ranks and went on to make significant contributions to the field of astronomy—classifying thousands of stars and discovering numerous variable stars and novae. At what age did her formal education end? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.Sun Tzu (544 BC-496 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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take a fit— To become very or unreasonably angry or upset; to have an outburst of rage, frustration, or ill temper. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Aoi Matsuri (2022)One of the three major festivals of Kyoto, Japan, the Aoi Matsuri, or Hollyhock Festival, is believed to date from the sixth century. The festival's name derives from the hollyhock leaves adorning the headdresses of the participants; legend says hollyhocks help prevent storms and earthquakes. Today, the festival, which was revived in 1884, consists of a re-creation of the original imperial procession. Some 500 people in ancient costume parade with horses and large lacquered oxcarts carrying the "imperial messengers" from the Kyoto Imperial Palace to the shrines. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: plateassiette - A prepared dish of food, French for "plate, course of a meal." More... dish, plate - Dish is a more general term and plate is more specialized. More... plate - Etymologically, something "flat," from Latin plattus, "flat," and Greek platys, "broad." More... placard - Comes from French plaquier, "to plate; lay flat." More... | |