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 Auxiliary VerbsAuxiliary verbs are verbs that add functional meaning to other "main" or "full" verbs in a clause. They are used to create different tenses or aspects, to form negatives and interrogatives, or to add emphasis to a sentence. What are auxiliary verbs also called? 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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 Disneyland Opens in Anaheim, California (1955)Having welcomed more than 650 million visitors since its opening, Disneyland is perhaps the world's most famous themed amusement park. Walt Disney's original plans called for a modest park to be built on eight acres (3.2 hectares) near Disney Studios. A much more ambitious Disneyland opened to invited guests and the media on July 17, 1955, a year after construction had begun. The day's events did not go smoothly, prompting Disney to later refer to it as "Black Sunday." What went wrong? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ismail I (1487)The young Ismail I went into hiding after his father's death and emerged at age 14 to proclaim himself Shah of Iran. Despite his youth, he was able to reunify Iran and establish the Safavid Empire, which remained intact until 1736. Ismail converted Iran from the Sunni to the Shi'a sect of Islam, drawing the ire of Selim I, the Sunni sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who wrote Ismail belligerent letters before invading Iran. Ismail was also a prolific poet who wrote under what pseudonym? 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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a bit out of it— Feeling somewhat disoriented, phased, or out of touch with the world; spaced out. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 British Open (2023)The British Open is the oldest and one of the most prestigious international golf championship tournaments in the world. It began in 1860 at the then 12-hole Prestwick course in Scotland and is now rotated among select golf courses in England and Scotland. The Open has a special cachet for golfers since Scotland is considered, if not the birthplace of golf, the place where it developed into its present form played with ball, club, and hole. The game may actually have originated in Holland, where they called it kolven, but golf in Scotland goes back before 1457. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: polessedan chair - An enclosed chair carried on poles. More... oblate, prolate - Oblate means "flattened at the poles," and the opposite is prolate; the Earth is an oblate spheroid. More... tent - Comes from a Latin word for "stretch," as early tents were made from cloth or skins stretched on poles. More... running boards - Originally extended from bow to stern on canal boats—which men walked along, propelling the boats with poles. More... | |