Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, December 31, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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desiccant
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Middle VoiceThe so-called middle voice is an approximate type of grammatical voice in which the subject both performs and receives the action expressed by the verb. Middle voice and active voice use the same verb structure in a sentence, so how can we distinguish between the two? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 RedwoodsRedwoods are the tallest living trees, often exceeding 300 ft (90 m) in height. Nearly exterminated by the ice sheets of the glacial ages, redwoods are found only in a narrow strip near the Pacific coast of the northwest US. They take up to 500 years to reach maturity, and some are known to be more than 1,500 years old. As redwoods age, their lower limbs fall away, leaving a columnar trunk that can reach a diameter of more than 20 ft (6 m). What is the largest tree in the world? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Central African Federation Collapses (1963)The Central African Federation was a semi-independent state in southern Africa that existed from 1953 to 1963. Created by the British government to unite the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia with the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the federation ultimately crumbled when black African nationalists demanded a greater share of power than the dominant minority white population was willing to concede. What are Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland called today? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Isma'il Pasha (1830)Isma'il Pasha was appointed viceroy of Egypt under the Ottoman Empire and was involved with work on the Suez Canal. He planned but failed to unify the Nile valley by creating a new southern Egyptian province in the Sudan. Educated in Paris and sent on diplomatic missions throughout Europe, he helped to modernize Egypt before being dismissed by the sultan because of fiscal mismanagement. The enormous debt he incurred led to the British occupation of Egypt in 1882. Who captured his son Hassan? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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honest to Pete— Honestly; truly; genuinely. An expression used to emphasize the veracity of one's statement, "Pete" here is a substitution of the word "God," so as to avoid potential blasphemy. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 New Year's Eve (Spain) (2023)In Spain, it is customary for families to gather on New Year's Eve in small groups to celebrate the coming of the New Year. Grapes are distributed, and, when midnight arrives, everyone eats one grape for each stroke of the clock. Eating all 12 grapes before the clock is finished striking ensures good luck in the New Year. The grapes are usually washed down with muscatel wine. So firmly entrenched is the custom that in theaters and cinemas, the show is often interrupted at midnight on New Year's Eve so that the audience can eat the grapes and drink the wine they've brought with them. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: theatrebox office - An office in a theatre for booking seats, originally from "hiring a box." More... in the wings - An expression from the theatre, referring to the areas on the sides of the stage hidden from the audience. More... scenery, scenic - Scenery was originally theatrical—"a stage depiction of nature"—and it came to be applied to nature itself; scenic first pertained to the theatre and meant "dramatic, theatrical." More... | |