Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, May 29, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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contrite
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Declarative Sentences in the Past IndicativeVerbs in the past indicative describe things that have happened or are believed to have happened at some point in the past. In declarative sentences in the past indicative, the past simple tense and past perfect tense describe something that finished in the past. What do the past continuous tense and past perfect continuous tense describe? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Kilroy Was Here"Kilroy was here" is an American popular culture expression that is believed to have originated during World War II, when a US shipyard worker began scrawling the phrase on ships he had inspected. US servicemen then took up the saying and began scrawling it all over the world, wherever they were stationed or encamped. The phrase is usually paired with a doodle of a man peeking over a wall, a cartoon that was likely adopted from UK wartime graffiti that was often accompanied by what slogans? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Charles II of England Restored to Throne (1660)After Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658, the English republican experiment soon faltered. A strong reaction set in against Puritan supremacy and military control, and opinion favored recalling the exiled king. Charles II was persuaded to issue the Declaration of Breda, granting amnesty to former enemies of the house of Stuart, and return to England. As king, Charles reopened the country's theaters, which Cromwell's Puritanical government had closed, and encouraged what bawdy theatrical genre? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874)A British man of letters, Chesterton was a journalist, scholar, novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He wrote essays on Christianity and works of social and literary criticism on subjects such as Charles Dickens. His fiction includes the popular allegorical novel The Man Who Was Thursday, and his most successful creation, the series of detective novels featuring the priest-sleuth Father Brown. Chesterton was also known for collaborating with what author? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There is one insuperable obstacle to a belief in ghosts. A ghost never comes naked: he appears either in a winding-sheet or "in his habit as he lived." To believe in him, then, is to believe that not only have the dead the power to make themselves visible after there is nothing left of them, but that the same power inheres in textile fabrics.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in no way— Not at all; not by any means. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Shick-Shack Day (2024)The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that this day takes its name from a corruption of a derogatory term for Protestants who did not follow the doctrines of the Church of England. It was later applied to those who did not wear the traditional sprig of oak on May 29, or Royal Oak Day—the birthday of Charles II, and the day in 1660 on which he made his entry into London as king. Shick-shack has since become synonymous with the oak-apple or sprig of oak itself, and May 29 is celebrated in memory of the restoration of King Charles and his preservation in the Royal Oak. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: signsconjecture - First meant "the interpretation of omens or signs" or "divination," and it literally means "to throw together," that is, to produce a theory by putting together a number of facts. More... diacritic - From Greek diakrinein, "distinguish from," it denotes marks or signs that distinguish different values or sounds (pronunciations) of a letter. More... semiopathy - A tendency to read humorously inappropriate meanings into signs. More... sigla - The words for signs and abbreviations representing words. More... | |