Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, July 11, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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seeker
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Negative Interrogative SentencesNegative interrogative sentences (sometimes called interro-negative sentences) are interrogative sentences that are made negative. How are these sentences constructed? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 ButterflyfishFound mostly near the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, butterflyfish are named for their brightly colored and strikingly patterned bodies. Seen in shades of black, white, blue, red, orange, and yellow, many have eyespots on their flanks and dark bands across their eyes that resemble the patterns on butterfly wings, making them popular additions to aquaria. Because butterflyfish are easily spotted among reefs, some believe their conspicuous coloration serves what purpose? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Los Alfaques Disaster (1978)The Los Alfaques disaster was an explosion that took place near a campsite in Tarragona, Spain, when a leaking tanker truck loaded with 23 tons of highly flammable liquid propylene ignited. This resulted in a massive explosion and fireball that reached over 1000° F (538° C) and destroyed everything within a 1000-ft (300-m) radius. It killed 217 people, including the truck's driver, and severely burned more than 200. What regulations were later instituted to prevent future disasters of this sort? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561)Góngora was a poet of the Spanish Golden Age who successfully wove Renaissance and popular poetry into an original and elegant form. Very influential in his era, he developed the difficult, complex poetic style that became known as Gongorism. It provoked enmity from many of his contemporaries and was so exaggerated by less gifted imitators that his reputation suffered until the 20th century. He has since been called Spain's greatest poet. What is his most famous work? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"—a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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devil in disguise— Something or someone that appears to be good, useful, or benevolent, but that in reality proves to be the opposite. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Naadam (2019)This Mongolian festival spotlights the "three manly games" for a Mongolian, and its history goes back to the 13th century. Today, it is held from July 11-13 in provinces throughout the country. The fairs bring together the nomadic people, who pitch a city of yurts or gers (felt tents). Wrestling is usually the first event, the second is archery, and the last of the traditional sports is horse racing. When night falls, a bowed stringed instrument called a matouqin is played, and people sit by their yurts talking, dancing, and drinking butter tea and kumys. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: positivelitotes - From Greek litos, "simple, single," it refers to an ironical understatement (e.g. no small amount) or two negatives used to make a positive (e.g. it was not unsuccessful); it is pronounced lie-TOH-teez, LEYED-uh-teez, LID-uh-teez, or leye-TOHD-eez. More... set point - One's set point (for happiness) is a genetically determined level of happiness, to which one returns after positive or negative emotional experiences. More... Positive, comparative, superlative - Positive is the ordinary form of a word, with comparative conveying a sense of greater intensity of the adjective and superlative reflecting the greatest intensity of the adjective. More... acceptable face - The positive or reasonable side of something. More... | |