Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, July 14, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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statuesque
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the PredicateSentences must always include both a subject and a predicate. The predicate is, essentially, everything in the sentence that follows the subject. It is made up of at least one finite verb. What else can the predicate include? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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.jpg) The Vegetable Lamb of TartaryThe Vegetable Lamb of Tartary was a fanciful plant from Central Asia that grew lambs as its fruit. The stalks bent down to allow the lambs to graze nearby, and when the lambs ran out of food, the plant would die and the lambs could be harvested. The plant is described in a much-embellished 14th-century travelogue attributed to Englishman John Mandeville. Though the story of a wool-bearing plant was used to explain the existence of cotton, what other actual plant inspired this legend? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Storming of the Bastille (1789)The Bastille was a 14th-century fortress and a notorious state prison in Paris. In 1789, an angry mob stormed the prison, freeing the political prisoners held in the edifice that had come to symbolize the French monarchy's oppression of the people. The assault launched the French Revolution. Although the building itself was razed a year later, the Bastille became a symbol of French independence, and July 14th became a national holiday. How many prisoners were in the Bastille when it was stormed? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Owen Wister (1860)Wister was an American author who is best remembered for his contributions to western fiction. A well-to-do Harvard graduate, he suffered from ill health and summered in the American West, where he gained much inspiration for his writings. His popular 1902 novel The Virginian is regarded as the first western. It tells the tale of a cattle rancher who depends on a harsh code of ethics, and it helped establish the cowboy as an American folk hero. To whom is the book dedicated? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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honey-mouthed— Smooth, soothing, and sweet in voice, especially in a persuasive or seductive manner or intent. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Avignon Festival (2020)The month-long Festival d'Avignon was founded in 1947 by Jean Vilar, a well-known French actor and director who selected bold and innovative productions. Throughout its evolution, the Avignon Festival has not strayed from the fresh experimentation that was Vilar's hallmark, thus continuing to attract new audiences after more than 50 years of existence. The festival presents a different program each year, with about 40 performances given in 20 venues including the Popes' Palace (Palais des Papes), cloisters, and churches, and approximately 120,000 people in attendance. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mirrorcheval glass - A tall mirror swung on an upright frame that takes its name from French cheval, "horse"—a synonym for "supporting framework," which describes this mirror. More... catoptric - Means pertaining to a mirror, reflection, or reflector. More... mirage - From French se mirer, "be reflected," from Latin mirare, "look at"—the same root used in mirror. More... heliography - Using a mirror to send a signal. More... | |