Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, June 10, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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compendious
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Compound and Simple PredicatesThe subject of a clause or sentence must always be performing at least one action, but there are many instances in which it performs more than one action. In such a case, in which the subject is related to two or more finite verbs, the sentence is said to have a "compound predicate." What is a "simple predicate"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Civil Disobedience and Civil DisobedienceA typically nonviolent and collective means of forcing government concessions, civil disobedience has been used by nationalist movements in Africa and India, the US civil rights movement, and labor and antiwar movements in many countries. Perhaps the most influential exposition of the philosophy behind civil disobedience can be found in American author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau's 1849 essay Civil Disobedience, which argues that citizens should break laws that are what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Alcoholics Anonymous Founded (1935)Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international organization dedicated to helping alcoholics stop drinking and maintain their sobriety. It functions through local groups that meet regularly and emphasizes a 12-step recovery program that includes acknowledgment of the problem, faith in a "higher power," and a desire to change for the better and to help others recover. Founded in 1935 by two alcoholics, today AA has more than ninety thousand local groups around the globe and how many members? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 James Francis Edward Stuart, Prince of Wales (1688)Known as "The Old Pretender," Stuart was the son of the exiled James II of England and claimant to the English and Scottish thrones. Raised in France, he was proclaimed King of England by French King Louis XIV upon his father's death in 1701. However, the English Parliament passed an act excluding the male line of Stuarts from succession, and various plots and rebellions to restore him to the throne failed. What was the movement to restore the Stuart line to the throne called? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go stir-crazy— To become acutely anxious, restless, irritable, irrational, and/or depressed from remaining for too long in an unstimulating, confined, and/or isolated environment. "Stir" in this usage is a slang word for prison. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Time Observance Day (2023)Emperor Tenchi (or Tenji) of Japan (626-671) is credited with making the first water clock, a device that measured time by the amount of water leaking out of a vessel. The Japanese honor their 38th emperor on June 10, the day on which he first ordered the hour to be announced by sounding temple bells and drums. The Rokoku Festival, or Water Clock Festival, is held on this day at the Omi Jingu Shrine in the city of Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, where the emperor's water clock is housed. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: impactfighting fire with fire - Early American settlers had to put out great prairie fires and learned that setting a circle or strip of land on fire could stop the path or lessen the impact of a big fire—giving us the phrase "fighting fire with fire." More... freezing rain - Rain that freezes on impact with the ground or objects. More... draw - The billiard ball's recoil after impact. More... impinge, infringe - To impinge is to come into contact or encroach or have an impact; to infringe is to encroach on a right or privilege or to violate. More... | |