Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, May 29, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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baleen
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Declarative Sentences in the Past IndicativeVerbs in the past indicative describe things that have happened or are believed to have happened at some point in the past. In declarative sentences in the past indicative, the past simple tense and past perfect tense describe something that finished in the past. What do the past continuous tense and past perfect continuous tense describe? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The NutcrackerThe Nutcracker, a celebrated ballet by Tchaikovsky, tells the story of a young girl whose Christmas gift of a nutcracker turns into a prince and leads her to a magical land. In 1954, George Balanchine choreographed and premiered his New York City Ballet version, which was later made into a feature film. Mikhail Baryshnikov choreographed another enormously popular version for the American Ballet Theatre. What novel instrument did Tchaikovsky use in the Nutcracker score? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Battle of Legnano (1176)In 1160, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa was excommunicated for his support of a series of antipopes against Pope Alexander III. In 1167, the communes of Lombardy in northern Italy formed an alliance to resist Frederick. The Lombard League soundly defeated Frederick's forces in the Battle of Legnano, after which Frederick reconciled with the pope and made peace with the Lombard cities. Why, if he survived, did Frederick's wife go into mourning for her husband following the battle? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874)A British man of letters, Chesterton was a journalist, scholar, novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He wrote essays on Christianity and works of social and literary criticism on subjects such as Charles Dickens. His fiction includes the popular allegorical novel The Man Who Was Thursday, and his most successful creation, the series of detective novels featuring the priest-sleuth Father Brown. Chesterton was also known for collaborating with what author? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in no way— Not at all; not by any means. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Shick-Shack Day (2024)The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that this day takes its name from a corruption of a derogatory term for Protestants who did not follow the doctrines of the Church of England. It was later applied to those who did not wear the traditional sprig of oak on May 29, or Royal Oak Day—the birthday of Charles II, and the day in 1660 on which he made his entry into London as king. Shick-shack has since become synonymous with the oak-apple or sprig of oak itself, and May 29 is celebrated in memory of the restoration of King Charles and his preservation in the Royal Oak. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: signsconjecture - First meant "the interpretation of omens or signs" or "divination," and it literally means "to throw together," that is, to produce a theory by putting together a number of facts. More... diacritic - From Greek diakrinein, "distinguish from," it denotes marks or signs that distinguish different values or sounds (pronunciations) of a letter. More... semiopathy - A tendency to read humorously inappropriate meanings into signs. More... sigla - The words for signs and abbreviations representing words. More... | |