Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, August 20, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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avocation
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Avoiding Unnecessary PrepositionsWhile it is perfectly correct to end a sentence with a preposition, we must be careful that we do not include extraneous prepositions that do not serve a grammatical function. What is the very common error in the following sentence? "Where are you at?" More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The DeipnosophistaeWritten in the 3rd-century by the Greek writer Athenaeus, the Deipnosophistae professes to be an account of three banquets held at the house of a scholar and wealthy patron of the arts. The work is invaluable for providing information about the Hellenistic leisure class of the Roman Empire, particularly in terms of food and sexuality. In the course of conversation, the banqueters quote about 700 authors, many of them otherwise unrecorded, and discuss the story behind what famous statue? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Cease-Fire Declared in Iran-Iraq War (1988)On September 22, 1980, Iraqi forces invaded Iran, which was still struggling in the aftermath of its revolution. The resulting war—ostensibly a territorial dispute—turned into a bloody stalemate that saw the first widespread use of chemical warfare since World War I. An estimated 1.5 million people were killed in the conflict. After nearly eight years, the United Nations mandated a cease-fire. Both sides held thousands of prisoners of war for years. When were the last prisoners exchanged? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Benjamin Harrison (1833)The grandson of a US president, Harrison practiced law in Indiana before leading a volunteer regiment in the Civil War. He made two unsuccessful bids for the Indiana governorship before gaining a seat in the US Senate. In the 1888 presidential election, he defeated incumbent US President Grover Cleveland, though Cleveland won the popular vote. His association with unpopular tariffs cost him an 1892 re-election and brought Cleveland back. Why did his children refuse to attend his second wedding? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere.Jane Austen (1775-1817) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hit (something) out of the (ball)park— To do or perform something extraordinarily well; to produce or earn an exceptional achievement. An allusion to hitting a home run in baseball that lands outside the stadium. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Hortobágy Bridge Fair and International Equestrian Festival (2020)This annual event is a showcase of Hungary's fine horses and riders on the Hortobágy and a celebration of the famous nine-arched bridge, built in 1833, that crosses the Hortobágy River and is the longest stone bridge in the country. The equestrian fair is held outside the historic city of Debrecen and features the famed Lipizzaner horses in dressage exhibitions, the csikós (Hungarian cowboy) in colorful embroidered riding costume, carriage parades, pulling contests for draft horses, and other equestrian events. There are also crafts fairs and a peasant market. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: treasurehamper - A food basket for a picnic, it is a phonetic reduction of the word hanaper, "plate basket," or "repository for treasure." More... garrison - At first, it meant "store, treasure." More... treasure - Based on Greek thesauros. More... treasure trove - From French, literally meaning "found treasure." More... | |