Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 12, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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plethora
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Viewpoint AdverbsViewpoint adverbs are often confused with evaluative adverbs. Although they are similar in form, and the specific adverbs used can overlap, the two actually serve different functions. While evaluative adverbs are used to give an opinion, viewpoint adverbs are used to indicate what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 TektitesTektites are naturally occurring glass rocks that may have fallen from the sky. Normally jet black to olive green, the small, often aerodynamically shaped objects exist only in limited areas called strewn fields. Tektites are believed to have formed from droplets of molten rock, blasted into the atmosphere by meteorite or asteroid impacts, which then cooled and fell back to Earth. However, there are those who believe that they are in fact the result of meteorite impacts with what celestial body? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Margaret Thatcher Escapes Assassination Attempt (1984)In 1984, five people were killed and over 30 injured when a bomb tore through a hotel in Brighton, England, where Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet were staying for a conference. The bomb had been planted weeks earlier by a Provisional Irish Republican Army operative. Though Thatcher's suite was damaged, she was uninjured. She attended the conference that morning as scheduled, and her popularity soared. How did attendees replace their destroyed clothes in time for the conference? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. (1710)The only colonial governor to side with the colonists in the American Revolution, Trumbull made Connecticut a principal source of supplies for the Continental army. It is said that the name "Brother Jonathan," a humorous designation for the American people collectively, arose from an affectionate nickname George Washington gave to Trumbull during the war. How did Trumbull reply to a request for assistance from British General Thomas Gage after the Battles of Lexington and Concord? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Painting, n.: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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scare story— A story or rumor that makes something seem more serious, dreadful, or terrifying than it really is. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Equatorial Guinea Independence Day (2022)On this day in 1968, Equatorial Guinea became independent from Spain after being one of its colonies for nearly 300 years. On October 12—the same day on which Columbus Day is celebrated elsewhere in the world—Equatorial Guinea celebrates its autonomy with a national holiday. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: railwayMain Line - The principal line of a railway (1841), it also has the meaning "affluent area of residence" (1930s), originally that of Philadelphia, from the "main line" of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which added local stops to a string of backwater towns west of the city in late 19th century that helped turn them into fashionable suburbs. More... one-track mind - Is a reference to the railway. More... railway - The word was first recorded in 1776, but the first actual railway opened nearly 50 years later, in 1825. More... sidetrack - First used for a railway siding or a minor track or path. More... | |