Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, August 12, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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rappel
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Making a Noun MasculineNouns that are, were, or can be distinguished between feminine and masculine genders are often masculine in their basic form. Masculine nouns tend to end in what two suffixes? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Great Pacific Garbage PatchIn the Pacific Ocean, there is a vortex of ocean currents that occupies an area of approximately 10 million square miles (26 million sq km). Called the North Pacific Gyre, it has a relatively stationary center whose circular rotation draws in waste material, leading to a massive, floating accumulation of debris known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Though such debris has historically been biodegradable, the gyre is now accumulating vast quantities of plastics, which break down into what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Night of the Murdered Poets (1952)In one of the instances of violent anti-Semitism during Joseph Stalin's regime, 15 Soviet Jews linked to the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee were falsely accused of espionage, treason, and other crimes. After their arrests, they were tortured and isolated for three years before being formally charged. In 1952, 13 of them were executed in Moscow on a night remembered as the "Night of the Murdered Poets," named after five of the prisoners, who were Yiddish writers. Who were these poets? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876)Rinehart was a popular American author considered the inventor of the Had-I-But-Known school of mystery writing. Her immensely successful first novel, The Circular Staircase launched her career, and her books, which often blend mystery with humor and romance, have sold over 10 million copies. She was a war correspondent during WWI and wrote several books promoting women's contributions to the war effort. What popular phrase is said to have been inspired by her 1930 novel The Door? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Men are all right for friends, but as soon as you marry them they turn into cranky old fathers, even the wild ones. They begin to tell you what's sensible and what's foolish, and want you to stick at home all the time. I prefer to be foolish when I feel like it, and be accountable to nobody.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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good omen— A sign, either real or imagined, of good fortune or a propitious outcome. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Queen's Birthday (Thailand) (2019)The Queen's Birthday is a nationwide celebration in Thailand of the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit (b. 1932). Throughout the country, buildings are decorated to honor the queen, but the most splendid are in Bangkok, where buildings and streets are brilliant with colored lights. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: hurtaposiopesis - Stopping in the middle of a statement upon realizing that someone's feelings are hurt or about to be hurt; when a sentence trails off or falls silent, that is an aposiopesis. More... innocent - From Latin in-, "free from," and nocere, "hurt, injure." More... innocuous - "Harmless, not hurtful," from Latin in-, "not," and nocere, "to hurt." More... collide - Its Latin base is laedere, "hurt by striking." More... | |