Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, September 11, 2017)Word of the Day | |||||||
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fusillade
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Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Auxiliary VerbsAuxiliary verbs (also called helping verbs) are verbs that add functional meaning to other "main" or "full" verbs in a clause. What are the three primary auxiliary verbs? More... |
Article of the Day | |
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![]() Letters of MarqueA retaliatory measure once widely employed by governments around the globe, a letter of marque and reprisal is an official commission which authorizes a private ship to attack and capture merchant vessels from a hostile power. A ship operating under a letter of marque was known as a "private man-of-war" or "privateer." Widespread abuse on the part of privateers led a number of nations to ratify the 1856 Declaration of Paris abolishing the practice. What major power refused to sign the agreement? More... |
This Day in History | |
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![]() 9/11 Terrorist Attacks (2001)On September 11, 2001, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes. They crashed two planes into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York City and flew a third into the Pentagon building in Virginia. Passengers on the fourth flight attempted to retake control of the aircraft, but it crashed in a Pennsylvania field. The devastating terrorist attacks of 9/11 were responsible for 2,996 deaths and countless more injuries. What were the environmental consequences of 9/11? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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![]() Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522)After earning a degree in medicine, Aldrovandi took up botany and zoology, amassing a spectacular cabinet of curiosities containing thousands of specimens. He is said to have been the first to use the word "geology" in its modern sense. Carolus Linnaeus, the botanist who laid the groundwork for the modern system of naming species, hailed Aldrovandi as the father of natural history. Aldrovandi also founded Bologna's public botanical garden and was its first curator. Why was he arrested in 1549? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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![]() George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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make the welkin ring— To make a very loud, reverberating sound or noise. ("Welkin" is an archaic or literary word for the skies or the heavens, only used in contemporary English as a part of this phrase.) More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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![]() Patriot Day (2021)Patriot Day in the United States commemorates the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, in New York City, Washington, DC, and in the skies above Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Each year, the president proclaims a day of national observance in memory of the more than 2,700 people who lost their lives in the attacks. Throughout the nation, flags are flown at half-staff, and a moment of silence is observed at 8:46 AM, Eastern time, the exact moment the first plane flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. More... |
Word Trivia | |
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