Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, July 20, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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extemporaneous
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Question MarkQuestion marks ( ? ) are used to identify sentences that ask a question (technically known as "interrogative sentences"). Where do question marks almost always appear in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 All Roads Lead to RomeThe proverb "All roads lead to Rome" was once a literal statement. During the height of the Roman Empire, a road system of about 50,000 miles (80,000 km) linked Rome with its many provinces. The roads often ran in straight lines despite obstacles and were typically constructed in four layers. The road system improved travel for the Roman army, aided commercial ventures, and allowed a postal service to thrive. Some parts still survive today. What modern highways run along ancient Roman routes? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Battle of Peachtree Creek (1864)In the spring of 1864 during the American Civil War, Union General William T. Sherman began preparing his troops for their first major attack on the defenses of Atlanta, Georgia. Just days after taking command of a Confederate army in that area, General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attacked Sherman's troops as they crossed the nearby Peachtree Creek. Most historians consider the attack a grave error, as the Union troops routed Hood's army. What went wrong for Hood? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (1919)Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer who, with Tenzing Norgay of Nepal, became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Following the expedition, Hillary founded the Himalayan Trust, which built many schools and hospitals for the Sherpa people of Nepal. He continued climbing, later participated in the first crossing of Antarctica by vehicle, and even searched for the legendary abominable snowman in 1960. What unusual profession did Hillary have when not mountaineering? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Now, I hold it is not decent for a scientific gentTo say another is an ass-at least, to all intent; Nor should the individual who happens to be meant Reply by heaving rocks at him to any great extent. Bret Harte (1836-1902) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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Elysian Fields— A place or time of perfect, happy contentment, likened to the paradisiacal afterlife of Greek mythology. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Moon Day (2023)The first man to walk on the moon was American astronaut Neil Armstrong. On July 20, 1969, he and his fellow astronaut, Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, left the command module and landed the lunar module Eagle on the moon's Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong's first words as he stepped out on the lunar surface were heard by an estimated 600 million viewers: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." The Apollo 11 mission was completed eight years after President John F. Kennedy told Congress he believed that the United States could put a man on the moon before the decade ended. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sequencearithmetic progression - A sequence in which each term is obtained by the addition of a constant number to the preceding term, as 1, 4, 7, 10, 13. More... initialism, alphabetism, acronym - Initialisms (sometimes called alphabetisms) are formed from the initial letters of a string of words and are pronounced as a sequence of letters, e.g. BYOB, USA, DVD. Acronyms are formed from the initial letters or parts of words in a sequence, but have the distinction of being pronounceable words, e.g. RADAR, SCUBA. More... solfeggio, gamut - Solfeggio and gamut are words formed on the sequence of musical notes. More... | |