Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, July 8, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Indicative MoodThe indicative mood is a type of grammatical mood used to express facts, statements, opinions, or questions. It is the sole realis mood in English. This mood can be used in the past, present, or future tense, and in what kinds of sentences? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The RackAn ancient torture device, the rack was used to stretch its victims' joints to the breaking point. A prisoner's hands and feet would be fastened to rollers located at either end of the device's rectangular frame, and during interrogations, a ratchet would gradually increase the tension on the chains. The excruciating torture inspired such terrible fear that some prisoners would confess after merely watching someone else being stretched on the rack. Who were some of the device's famous victims? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Issue of The Wall Street Journal Is Published (1889)The most influential American business-oriented paper and one of the most respected dailies in the world, The Wall Street Journal has been printed continuously since it was founded in 1889 by Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. In that time, it has won more than 30 Pulitzer Prizes. It has one of the highest daily circulations in the US and a worldwide daily circulation of more than 2 million. Who acquired the newspaper's parent company in 2007? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Käthe Kollwitz (1867)Kollwitz was a German Expressionist painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work centered on human suffering. Her initial focus was the plight of the poor, whom she encountered firsthand at her physician husband's clinic in Berlin. After their son died in World War I, however, Kollwitz channeled her depression into a cycle of prints emphasizing a mother's love and a memorial sculpture of grieving parents. Unfortunately, many of Kollwitz's drawings and prints were lost in 1943 when what happened? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There are some experiences in life which should not be demanded twice from any man, and one of them is listening to the Brahms Requiem.George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have (hand)writing like chicken scratch— To have very poor, messy, and/or illegible handwriting, likened to the marks made in the dirt by a chicken. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 San Fermin Festival (2023)The festivities surrounding this well-known festival in Pamplona, Spain, honoring the city's bishop, begin with a rocket fired from the balcony of the town hall. Bands of txistularis—with dancers, drummers, and txistu players (a musical instrument like a flute)—march through the town playing songs announcing the "running of the bulls," an event that has taken place here for 400 years. Each morning, young men, dressed in typical Basque costumes, risk their lives running through the streets ahead of the bulls being run to the bullring where the bullfights will be held. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: vegetablerareripe - Originally simply a fruit or vegetable that ripened early. More... fruit, vegetable - Fruit is the name given to those plants that have an ovary used for food; vegetable is the name given to a large category of herbaceous plants with parts used for food. More... sauerbraten, sauerkraut - In German, sauerbraten is literally "sour roast meat," and sauerkraut is "sour cabbage or vegetable." More... sweet potato, yam - The sweet potatoes and yams sold in most stores are the same vegetable—sweet potatoes are inside every mislabeled yam can; true yams are not sold anywhere except a handful of specialty grocers. More... | |