Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, May 14, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Reflexive Pronouns as Direct Objects in the Middle VoiceMany middle-voice verbs are transitive verbs and therefore require a direct object in the form of a reflexive pronoun. Without a reflexive pronoun, what happens to the receiver of the action? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Great Chain of BeingThis classical and Western medieval conception of the order of the universe is composed of myriad hierarchical links that organize all things—from the most basic, matter-based elements to purely spiritual beings—into a structured system. Each level of the hierarchy moves closer to perfection, incorporating the positive attributes of the previous link as well as at least one other. Angels surpass humans, and they, in turn, are surpassed by God or the "prime mover." What is at the lowest level? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Jamestown, Virginia, Founded (1607)Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. It was founded by the London Company on a peninsula—now an island—in the James River and named after the reigning English monarch, James I. Disease, starvation, and Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more men and supplies. A successfully exported strain of tobacco was cultivated there by a colonist named John Rolfe, who later married what Native American princess? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Pierre Victor Auger (1899)Auger was a French physicist who worked in the fields of nuclear and atomic physics and also advanced the study of cosmic rays. He directed the mathematical and natural sciences department at UNESCO from 1948 to 1959 and was instrumental in creating the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). In 1977, he was made a member of the French Academy of Sciences. The Auger effect as well as the world's largest detector of what are named after him? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 One soweth and another reapeth is a verity that applies to evil as well as good.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get in(to) hot water— To provoke or incite anger, hostility, or punishment against oneself; to cause or encounter trouble or difficulty, especially that which will result in punishment or reprisal. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Carabao Festival (2024)The Carabao Festival is a feast in honor of San Isidro Labrador (St. Isidore the Farmer), the patron saint of Filipino farmers, held in Pulilan, Bulacan province, the Philippines. The feast also honors the carabao, or water buffalo, the universal beast of burden of the Philippines. Farmers decorate their carabao with flowers to parade with the image of San Isidro. The festival is also marked by exploding firecrackers and the performance of the Bamboo Dance, where dancers represent the tinikling bird, a menace to the rice crop. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mineraldiamond - Developed from adamant—the name of the hardest stone or mineral of ancient times—from Latin adamans, from Greek adamas, "invincible" (a-, "not," and daman, "to tame"). More... Formica - Got its name from being created as a substitute "for mica," a mineral. More... mineral - Etymologically "something obtained by mining," from Latin minera, "ore." More... snow - Technically a mineral, it is Teutonic in origin, from an Indo-European root shared by the Latin words niv-/nix and Greek nipha; the spelling snow first appeared in English around 1200. More... | |