Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, September 2, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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blabbermouth
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Past Perfect Continuous TenseThe past perfect continuous tense is used to describe an action that began and was still in progress in the past before another past action started. How does it differ from the past perfect tense? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Jewels of the SeaAmong the most important and prolific sea creatures, diatoms are unicellular algae that exist singly but can join to form colonies. Characterized by a silica shell of often intricate and beautiful sculpturing, they are found in fresh and salt water, in moist soil, and on moist plant surfaces. As the principal constituent of plankton, diatoms are an important food source for many aquatic animals. The shells of dead aquatic diatoms form what sedimentary material used in the making of dynamite? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Paddy Roy Bates Founds His Own Nation (1967)The Principality of Sealand is a purported micronation located on Roughs Tower, a World War II-era British sea fort located in the North Sea six miles (10 km) off the coast of Suffolk, England. Since 1966, the installation has been occupied by the associates and family of Paddy Roy Bates, a former British Army major and pirate radio broadcaster who claimed it as a sovereign and independent state in 1967. What is the international community's position on the fort's status as a sovereign nation? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Christa McAuliffe (1948)McAuliffe, a high school history teacher, was among the seven crew members killed when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded soon after its launch in 1986. She had been selected to be the first civilian in space from a field of more than 11,000 applicants to NASA's Teacher in Space program, and she was slated to teach two lessons during the flight. In 2004, she was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. What happened to the teacher chosen as McAuliffe's backup? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory...The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak…We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out.Jane Austen (1775-1817) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make (something) up as (one) goes (along)— To improvise continuously as one does something; to do something without formal guidelines, structure, rules, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Vietnam National Day (2021)The Socialist Republic of Vietnam observes its declaration of independence from France as a national holiday. On this day in 1945, Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) proclaimed the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. To celebrate Vietnam's national holiday, people gather in major cities, including Hanoi, for speeches, parades, fireworks, and other festivities. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: troopssquadron - Borrowed from Italian squadrone, from Latin quadrare, "square"; the sense of "military group" comes from an earlier "square formation of troops." More... campaign - First meant an open tract of land, from Latin campus, "level ground," and the change to a military meaning came from troops "taking the field"—moving from fortress or town to open country—from which the political sense evolved, referring to the organized efforts of office-seekers to sway public opinion or influence their vote at an upcoming election. More... echelon - Comes from French echelle, "ladder," from Latin scala, and first meant a formation of troops. More... corporal - Its military meaning came from "the head of a body of troops," from French caporale. More... | |