Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, September 12, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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forfend
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Middle VoiceThe so-called middle voice is an approximate type of grammatical voice in which the subject both performs and receives the action expressed by the verb. Middle voice and active voice use the same verb structure in a sentence, so how can we distinguish between the two? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Second Great AwakeningThe Second Great Awakening was an early 19th-century US religious evangelical revivalist movement. Founded on the belief that every person could, through a determined struggle with sin, achieve salvation, it drew millions of new members to a variety of denominations, including new ones like Adventism and Mormonism. In upstate New York, so few were left unconverted that the area came to be called the "burned-over district." How did revivalists’ religious beliefs encourage wider social reform? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 South African Anti-Apartheid Activist Steve Biko Dies in Police Custody (1977)A former medical student, Biko founded the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa in 1968 to combat racism and apartheid. He was officially "banned" by the South African government in 1973 and was arrested several times in the years that followed. Arrested for the last time in 1977, he was tortured and beaten to death in police custody, prompting international protests and a UN arms embargo. Twenty years later, five former policemen admitted killing him. Why were they never prosecuted? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Maurice Chevalier (1888)Chevalier was a French actor, singer, and vaudeville entertainer known for his trademark tuxedo and straw hat. While a prisoner of war during World War I, Chevalier studied English. After the war, he began acting in the US, where he appeared in movies that helped establish the musical as a film genre. Though he put on a heavy French accent while performing in English, he actually spoke the language quite fluently with only a subtle accent. Why did his popularity dwindle during World War II? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and discouragement.Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make the world go round— To be of critical or integral importance to the ordinary operation of life or the world at large. (Sometimes used hyperbolically.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Bad Durkheim Wurstmarkt (2021)Although called Bad Durkheim Wurstmarkt, or Sausage Fair, this is actually Germany's biggest wine festival—the name is said to have originated about 150 years ago because of the immense amounts of sausage consumed. The opening day of the festival features a concert and a procession of bands, vineyard proprietors, and tapsters of the tavern stalls with decorated wine floats. The following days are a medley of fireworks, band playing, dancing, and singing through the night. Wine is served in glasses called Schoppen that hold about a pint. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shakingpulsatilla - Can refer to the shaking of a flower in the wind. More... quassation - The act or process of being shaken or shaking. More... concussion - Its underlying etymological notion is of "violent shaking," from Latin concutere, "shake violently." More... Shaker - The Shakers got their name from the shaking and convulsive movements they made during worship. More... | |