Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, March 25, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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dilly-dally
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using GerundsBecause they act like nouns, gerunds can be used as the subject of a sentence, the subject complement of the linking verb "be," the object of a preposition, or the object of a verb. They can also be used to form what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 MartiansMars is similar to Earth in a number of ways: It has a 24.6-hour day and may have once had liquid water on its surface. Though life on Mars would likely resemble bacteria if it existed at all, the idea of human-like beings living on Mars has long captivated humanity. After American astronomer Percival Lowell came to believe, in the 1890s, that Mars had intelligently built canals, many science-fiction authors began to write about Martians. What effectively ended the trend of Martians in fiction? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 John Lennon and Yoko Ono Hold Their First Bed-In for Peace (1969)Five days after John Lennon of the Beatles married the Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, the couple held the first of two week-long Bed-Ins for Peace as a non-violent way of protesting war and promoting peace. For the first Bed-In, the couple invited members of the press into their Amsterdam hotel room and then sat in bed and talked about peace. Months later, they held their second Bed-In in Montreal. What hit song did they record during the second Bed-In? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Saint Catherine of Siena (1347)Born in Siena, Italy, as Caterina Benincasa, Catherine claimed to have mystic visions beginning in early childhood. In 1370, in response to a vision, she began sending letters to prominent figures. She later traveled to Avignon and influenced Pope Gregory XI to end the "Babylonian captivity" of the papacy and return to Rome. Although she never learned to write, she dictated hundreds of letters and some notable mystic works. Catherine is believed to have suffered from what condition? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 When friends grow cold, and the converse of intimates languishes into vapid civility and commonplace, these [books] only continue the unaltered countenance of happier days, and cheer us with that true friendship which never deceived hope nor deserted sorrow.Washington Irving (1783-1859) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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win (something) in a walk— To win (something) easily, handily, or without much or any effort. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Annunciation of the Lord (2024)This day celebrates the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary announcing that she was to become the mother of Jesus. In England, the Feast of the Annunciation is commonly called Lady Day. Greek Orthodox Christians refer to this day as the Annunciation of the Theotokos. In Sweden it was called Varfrudagen, "Our Lady's Day." Common pronunciation turned it into Vaffeldagen, or "Waffle Day." This is the source of heart-shaped waffle irons: the waffles commemorate the heart of the Virgin Mary. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: strivecompete - Comes from Latin competere, "come together," but in later Latin, it developed the sense "strive together," which was the basis for the English term. More... repugn, repugnant - Repugn means "to strive against" or "be contradictory or inconsistent," giving us repugnant. More... strive - Seems to be from Old French estriver, "quarrel, strive." More... win - Its Germanic base gave it its first meaning, "to labor, strive, work." More... | |