Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, May 13, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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flyaway
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Linking Verbs vs. Action VerbsThe verbs "be," "seem," and "become" are always used as linking verbs (except when "be" is an auxiliary verb). However, the other linking verbs all have the capacity to behave as action verbs in a sentence. Sometimes it is tricky to know whether a verb is functioning as a linking verb or as an action verb, but there are ways that we can be sure. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 ElectricityElectrical phenomena, caused by the presence and flow of electric charge, have been studied since antiquity. Static electricity was the first of them to be recognized and investigated. As early as 600 BCE, certain cultures had discovered that rubbing amber with fur caused it to attract light objects such as feathers. Some 2,200 years later, English scientist William Gilbert coined the term "electricity" to describe the electrification of substances. How did he come up with the word? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Lei Áurea: Slavery Abolished in Brazil (1888)By the 1870s, the plantation culture of northeast Brazil was already crumbling, and the growth of the movement to abolish slavery threatened it even more. The slave trade had been abolished in 1850, and a law for gradual emancipation was passed in 1871. In 1888, while Pedro II was in Europe and his daughter Isabel was governing, slavery was completely abolished—making Brazil the last Western nation to do so. The law that officially abolished slavery was called Lei Áurea, which means what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Beatrice "Bea" Arthur (1922)Arthur was an American actress, comedian, and singer whose lengthy career began on the stage. In 1966, she won a Tony award for her role in the musical Mame. She went on to achieve fame on television as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both roles. Arthur appeared in what notoriously poorly received 1978 holiday TV special? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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land of plenty— A fictional or imagined utopian place where there is an abundance of everything needed to survive and flourish. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Lemuralia (2024)In ancient Rome, the lemures were the ghosts of the family's dead, who were considered to be troublesome and therefore had to be exorcized on a regular basis. The Lemuralia, or Lemuria, was a yearly festival held on the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May to get rid of the lemures. Participants walked barefoot, cleansed their hands three times, and threw black beans behind them nine times to appease the spirits of the dead. On the third day of the festival, a merchants' festival was held to ensure a prosperous year for business. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: herdcutting horse - One trained to cut cattle out of a herd. More... pointer, point man - A pointer or point man was first a cowboy riding at the front of a herd of cattle. More... egregious - First meant "remarkably good" and "standing out or apart from the flock or herd; eminent"; its later derogatory sense is probably an ironical use. More... herd - As a verb, it first meant "keep safe, shelter." More... | |