Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, August 1, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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excursus
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Reciprocal PronounsReciprocal pronouns are used to refer to two or more people who are or were the subject of the same verb, with all parties receiving the action in the same way. What are the two reciprocal pronouns in English? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Ethel MermanMerman was a Tony Award winning star of film and stage. Her precise enunciation, wide vocal range, and accurate pitch garnered her much acclaim. She began singing while working as a secretary and eventually became a full time vaudeville performer. Her powerful alto voice afforded her great advantages at a time when stage singers performed without microphones. She made her theater debut in Girl Crazy (1930). According to Broadway lore, what did George Gershwin advise her never to do? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 University of Texas Massacre (1966)On August 1, 1966, University of Texas student and former Marine Charles Whitman stabbed his mother and wife to death. He then took an array of firearms to his university's 307-foot (94-m) clock tower. There, he shot and killed more than a dozen people and wounded at least 30 others before police killed him. In his writings, Whitman expressed regret and confusion over his actions and asked that an autopsy be performed to determine what had caused his behavior. What did the autopsy find? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Maria Mitchell (1818)The daughter of an amateur astronomer, Mitchell spent her formative years learning to observe the heavens. When she was 29, she discovered a comet. For her achievement, she was awarded a gold medal by the king of Denmark. Her reputation as an astronomer thus secured, she soon became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and, thereafter, to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. To which of America's Founding Fathers was Mitchell distantly related? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Democracy is the healthful lifeblood which circulates through the veins and arteries, which supports the system, but which ought never to appear externally, and as the mere blood itself.Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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lose (one's) spirit— To lose one's vigor, energy, hope, or resolve; to become resigned or complacent. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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.svg.png) Swiss National Day (2021)This nationwide celebration of the Swiss Confederation is observed with torchlight processions, fireworks, shooting contests, and folkloric events. The day commemorates the occasion in 1291 when representatives of the three original cantons of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden met on the Rutli meadow and swore an oath of alliance and mutual defense to lay the foundations of the Confederation. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: peapeanut - Takes its name from its resemblance to peas in a pod and has these synonyms: pinda, goober, groundnut, ground pea, earthnut, and monkey nut; "peanut" appeared in the early 19th century. It is not a nut but a legume (pea). More... pisiform - Shaped like a pea. More... | |