Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, September 2, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Semi-Modal Auxiliary VerbsSemi-modal auxiliary verbs, often simply called semi-modal verbs, are verbs that sometimes behave like modal auxiliary verbs. What four verbs are widely considered the standard set of semi-modal verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Smeed's LawFirst proposed in 1949, Smeed's Law is an empirical rule relating traffic fatalities to motor vehicle registration and country population. According to this law, annually increasing traffic volume ironically leads to a decrease in accidents per vehicle. Though the law was revisited in the 1980s and 90s with data from more than 60 countries supporting its validity, it has been disputed by several scholars. What supposed truth about human psychology did Smeed say the law reveals? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 September Massacres Break Out in Paris (1792)After an abortive insurrection in June 1792, French revolutionaries followed it with a decisive one in August. Under pressure from the insurrection, the Assembly suspended Louis XVI and ordered elections for a National Convention to draw up a new constitution. Mass arrests of royalist sympathizers were followed by the September massacres, in which frenzied mobs entered jails throughout Paris and killed approximately 2,000 prisoners, many in grisly fashion. Who was targeted during the massacres? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Romare Bearden (1911)Regarded as one of the most important African-American artists of the 20th century, Bearden first achieved recognition for his complex, semiabstract collages of photographs and painted paper on canvas in Europe following WWII. By the 1960s, he was the preeminent collagist in the US. A prolific artist, he created some 2,000 works, many of which focus on aspects of African-American culture, including music and family. A Bearden mural in a subway station in what city was once valued at $15 million? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 My last page is always latent in my first; but the intervening windings of the way become clear only as I write.Edith Wharton (1862-1937) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have a fable for (something)— To have a strong or particular preference, affinity, or weakness for something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Vietnam National Day (2023)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: wrinkle | |