Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, May 4, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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macerate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Relative AdverbsRelative adverbs, like relative pronouns, introduce relative clauses (also called adjective clauses) that modify a noun or a noun phrase. How do relative adverbs differ from relative pronouns? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 How Does Dry Cleaning Work?Dry cleaning is the process of cleaning fabrics without water. Special solvents and soaps are used so as not to harm fabrics. The practice began in France in the middle of the 19th century, after a dye-works owner noticed that his tablecloth became cleaner after his maid spilled kerosene on it. Early solvents were extremely flammable and led to many fires and explosions. Newer chlorinated hydrocarbon synthetic solvents, such as perchlorethylene, are nonflammable but pose what other dangers? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The May Fourth Movement (1919)The May Fourth Movement was the first mass movement in modern Chinese history. It began with about 5,000 university students in Beijing protesting the Versailles Conference's decision to transfer former German concessions in China to Japan. Demonstrations and strikes spread, and a nationwide boycott of Japanese goods followed. The movement began a patriotic outburst of new urban intellectuals against foreign imperialists and warlords and is often cited as the seminal event that led to what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Audrey Hepburn (1929)Hepburn was a Belgian-born film actress who combined elegance with a radiant, elfin innocence. After spending World War II in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, she studied ballet and acting in London and was discovered by French writer Colette, who insisted she play the lead in Gigi on Broadway. She made her US film debut in Roman Holiday, for which she won an Academy Award, and then returned to Broadway and won a Tony Award in Ondine. What was Hepburn's last film? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It was not that she was out of temper, but that the world was not equal to the demands of her fine organism.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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cut (one's) stick— To leave hastily or abruptly. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia (2018)The Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia from the USSR is marked as a national public holiday in Latvia every May 4. On that date in 1990, Latvia's Supreme Court re-declared the country a free democratic parliamentary republic. Following a transitional period, full independence was attained on August 21, 1991. Since 1920, Latvia has been acknowledged continuously by other countries as an independent state, despite occupations by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945, and by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941 and 1945 to 1991. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: weighdispense - Ultimately from Latin dispendere, "weigh out." More... expend - Comes from ex-, "out," and pendere, "weigh; pay"; originally, it referred to spending money, with the root sense being "to weigh out money." More... preponderate - Once meant "weigh more" and "have greater intellectual weight." More... spend - A blend of Latin pendere, "pay, weigh," and expendere, "pay out." More... | |