Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, July 17, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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firmament
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Future TenseGrammatically speaking, there are no future tenses in the English language; verbs do not inflect (conjugate) a certain way to reflect future actions. For that reason, we use different sentence constructions to achieve a future point of view. How is this is most often accomplished? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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SzczerbiecThe sole surviving piece of the original Polish crown jewels, the Szczerbiec—or "Notched Sword"—is the ceremonial sword that was used to crown Polish kings from 1320 to 1764. Legend states that it was given by an angel to King Boleslaw, who chipped it on the gates of Kiev in 1018, yet the sword only dates to the 13th century, raising questions about the veracity of the tale. Looted by Prussian troops in 1795, the sword was not returned until 1928. Why is there a slit on its blade below the hilt? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 "Wrong Way" Corrigan Flies from New York to Ireland (1938)In 1938, American aviator Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan made his infamous, unauthorized transatlantic flight from New York to Ireland. He claimed that during a planned flight to California, foggy conditions and a misread compass made him fly thousands of miles in the wrong direction without noticing. In the years leading up to his "navigational error," he had applied several times for permission to make the transoceanic trip, but was always rejected. How was he punished for his actions? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 James Cagney (1899)After cutting his teeth on stage as a vaudeville and Broadway song-and-dance man, Cagney established himself as the quintessential gangster in the 1931 film The Public Enemy. He continued to play thugs in films like Angels with Dirty Faces and White Heat and won an Oscar for his performance in Yankee Doodle Dandy. He had a passion for farming and died on his secluded farm in 1986. In 1981, he broke a 20-year retirement to appear in one of his last films. What was it? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing.Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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help (someone) out of a fix— To help someone avoid or escape from some troublesome, difficult, or dangerous position or situation. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 King's Birthday (Lesotho) (2021)Veneration for royalty is still customary for the Basotho, the majority group living in the Kingdom of Lesotho. Accordingly, the birthday of monarch King Letsie III is a momentous occasion. Born in 1963, King Letsie is the son of King Moshoeshoe II, who became Lesotho's first monarch after the country gained full independence from Great Britain in 1966. Many citizens honor the king on his birthday by attending his parade, at which he appears in regal attire and is usually accompanied by his wife, Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: stringsbelly - In the violin family, the top surface of an instrument, across which the strings are placed. More... spaghetti - Naming pastas for everyday things is an Italian tradition, as in spaghetti, which means "strings." More... plectrum - Originally a device for tightening the strings of a harp, it is now the piece used to pluck a guitar's strings; its plural is plectrums or plectra. More... puppet, marionette - The word puppet originally meant "doll," and a puppet usually goes on the hand and arm, while a marionette (or string puppet) is a jointed figure with strings or wires. More... | |