Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, March 12, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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palpate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Free Indirect SpeechFree indirect speech (also known as free indirect discourse) is used to indicate the thoughts or mental processes of a character. Where is this type of speech most commonly found? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Splendid IsolationSplendid Isolation is the name given to the foreign policy pursued by Britain during the late 19th century, a policy characterized by a reluctance to enter into permanent European alliances or commitments with other powers and by an increase in the importance placed on British colonies, protectorates, and dependencies overseas. Still, there is much debate among historians regarding whether or not the policy was intentional. What marked the end of Britain's so-called Splendid Isolation? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 California's St. Francis Dam Fails (1928)Constructed between 1924 and 1926, the St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity-arch dam designed to act as a reservoir to store water for the Los Angeles Aqueduct. In 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, and the resulting flood of 12 billion US gallons (45 billion liters) of water killed more than 450 people. The dam's collapse was the worst American civil engineering failure of the 20th century and remains the second-greatest loss of life disaster in California's history, after what event? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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.jpg) Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832)Boycott was the estate agent for the Earl of Erne, an absentee landowner in County Mayo, Ireland, at a time when the Irish Land League was pressing for agrarian reform. In 1880, Boycott's refusal to reduce rents for tenant farmers, combined with his attempted eviction of 11 of them, led the League to launch a campaign of ostracism and isolation—now known as a "boycott"—against him and his family. Upon finding himself suddenly without servants, farmhands, or local services, Boycott did what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Manners are the happy way of doing things; each once a stroke of genius or of love—now repeated and hardened into usage. They form at last a rich varnish, with which the routine of life is washed, and its details adorned. If they are superficial, so are the dewdrops which give such a depth to the morning meadows.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get down to work— To begin being serious about something; to begin attending to business or work at hand. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Gregory's Day (2024)St. Gregory, a sixth-century monk who became pope, is also the patron saint of schoolchildren and scholars. In Belgium, schoolchildren rise early on March 12 and parade through the streets dressed as "little soldiers of St. Gregory." They carry a big basket for gifts and are accompanied by a noisy drummer. The young girls in the procession wear big shoulder bows that resemble the wings of a butterfly. They march from house to house, pausing at each door to sing a song and to ask for treats, and the procession always includes a group of angels. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: procedureprocess, procedure - A process is a set or series of actions directed to some end or a natural series of changes; a procedure is a series of actions conducted in a certain manner, an established way of doing something. More... ceremonially, ceremoniously - Ceremonially relates to the performance of a procedure; ceremoniously relates to the performer of the procedure. More... procedure, process, proceed - Procedure, process, and proceed come from Latin procedere, "to go forward." More... seder - The Hebrew word for "order, procedure"; it is the ceremonial Jewish dinner held on the first night of Passover. More... | |