Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 20, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Adjective ComplementsAn adjective complement is a phrase or clause that provides information necessary to complete an adjective phrase's meaning. What part of speech are they most often used with? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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| This Day in History | |
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 The Barber of Seville's Disastrous Debut (1816)In 1816, Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini produced The Barber of Seville, based on the comedy by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais. Though Rossini created much of the opera's music in just weeks, it resounds with his brilliant arias, ensemble numbers, and famous crescendos. Still, several on-stage accidents and constant jeers from the audience, likely spurred by supporters of one of Rossini's rivals, made its debut in Rome a disaster. What happened during the second performance? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ansel Adams (1902)Adams was an American photographer famous for his black-and-white landscape photographs and for his many books about photography, including a series of technical instruction manuals: The Camera, The Negative, and The Print. He invented the "zone system," a technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, and advocated a more sharply focused and composed style of photography than was in vogue at the time. What initially spurred his interest in photography? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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| 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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 Black History Month (2023)Black History Month grew out of Negro History Week, which was established in February 1926 by African-American historian Carter G. Woodson, who founded the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. Initially designed to encompass the birthday of the abolitionist orator Frederick Douglass on February 14 as well as Abraham Lincoln's Birthday, it was expanded in 1976 to a month-long observance. The event is widely observed by schools, churches, libraries, clubs, and organizations wishing to draw attention to the contributions of African Americans. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: strangerextranean - An outsider or stranger, a person not belonging to a household. More... barbarian - Based on Greek barbaros, "stranger" or "enemy." More... stranger - Originally a foreigner, from Old French estrangier, from Latin extraneus, "person outside." More... pilgrim - Its basic meaning was "traveler, homeless wanderer," from Latin peregrinum, "foreigner, stranger." More... | |