Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, September 15, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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aviary
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Interrogative AdjectivesEnglish has three interrogative adjectives: "what," "which," and "whose." They are called "interrogative" because they are usually used to ask questions. How can they be differentiated from interrogative pronouns? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 D.W. GriffithGriffith was an American film director best known for his controversial film The Birth of a Nation. Initially an actor, he sold film scenarios to the Biograph Company, which hired him as a director in 1908. In over 400 films for Biograph, he developed filmmaking as an art form with techniques such as the close-up and the scenic long shot, and he collaborated with cinematographer Billy Bitzer to create fade-out, fade-in, and soft-focus shots. In 1919, Griffith co-founded what film company? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Tragedy at Opening of Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830)In 1830, festivities were held to mark the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world's first inter-city passenger railway. Unfortunately, the celebration turned tragic when William Huskisson, the Member of Parliament for Liverpool, got off the train to speak with the Duke of Wellington during a temporary stop and was fatally injured by an oncoming train. He thus became the world's first railway passenger to be killed by a train. How fast did these trains initially travel? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Titus Oates (1649)Oates was an Anglican priest whose whole career was marked with intrigue and scandal. In 1678, he invented the story of the Popish Plot, a fictitious Jesuit conspiracy to kill Charles II and place his Catholic brother James—later James II—on the throne. Oates's testimony resulted in a frenzy of anti-Catholic hatred throughout England, and caused more than 30 people to be executed. He was finally convicted of perjury and imprisoned in 1685. Who conspired with Oates to invent the plot? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There is a wisdom of the head, and... a wisdom of the heart.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have (a) skeleton(s) in (one's)/the closet— To have (an) embarrassing, unpleasant, damaging, or incriminating secret(s) from one's past. Primarily heard in US. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Costa Rica Independence Day (2023)On this day in 1821, Costa Rica achieved independence after having been ruled by Spain since the early 1500s. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua also declared independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. On the evening of September 14, the president traditionally lights a torch representing liberty in the old capital city of Cartago and, on Independence Day, gives a speech to schoolchildren. There are more speeches and dancing in San José, the modern capital. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tubecanyon - Gets its name from Spanish canon, "tube." More... catheter - A tube inserted for withdrawing bodily fluids, it comes from Greek kathienai, "send or let down." More... fuse - Comes from Italian fuso, "spindle," from Latin fusus, "spindle," as it originally referred to the casing or tube filled with combustible matter. More... | |