Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, May 10, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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choler
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Infinitives vs. Bare InfinitivesAn infinitive is the most basic form of a verb. It is "unmarked" (which means that it is not conjugated for tense or person), and it is preceded by the particle "to." How are infinitives distinct from a similar construction known as "bare infinitives" or the "base forms" of verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 CataphractsOriginating in Central Asia, cataphracts were heavily-armored cavalry whose horses were also covered with armor made of metal scales. The name, which also refers to the armor itself, comes from the Greek word for "armored." Cataphracts were first used as elite cavalry by the Assyrians around 1000 BCE, and were adopted by numerous peoples in Eurasia, such as the Parthians, Sassanids, and Romans. Why did armored cavalry become obsolete in the 15th century? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 J. Edgar Hoover Appointed Director of FBI (1924)As FBI director from 1924 until his death in 1972, Hoover built a more efficient crime-fighting agency and established a centralized fingerprint file, a crime laboratory, and a training school for police. After World War II, he turned to the perceived threat of Communist subversion with a focus that his many critics considered obsessive. It has been verified that he orchestrated systematic harassment of political dissenters and activists, including what celebrated civil-rights leader? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Fred Astaire (1899)Born Frederick Austerlitz, Astaire was an American dancer, actor, and singer who began his career as a child on a successful Broadway vaudeville team with his sister Adele. After his sister retired, Astaire became a film actor and developed a reputation as a debonair song-and-dance man, particularly in the films he made with Ginger Rogers, which elevated tap dance to an elegant, disciplined art and revolutionized popular-dance performance. What were some of Astaire's most popular films? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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(all) kidding aside— In all seriousness; being frank for a moment. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Golden Spike Anniversary (2024)This reenactment of the completion of America's transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, has been held since 1952. Reproductions of the Central Pacific's "Jupiter" and Union Pacific's "119" meet at the site of the ceremony. Then, the Golden Spike and three other spikes are tapped into a special railroad tie; at 12:47 PM, an ordinary iron "last spike" is driven into the last tie, and the message "D-O-N-E" is sent by ham radio to the California State Railway Museum in Sacramento. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shockshock - An encounter between two charging hostile forces. More... enfant terrible - Actually applies to young adults (generally male) who go out of their way to shock or embarrass but at the same time are considered talented. More... perculsive - Describing something that gives you a shock. More... ay, chihuahua - This interjection expresses surprise or shock—even dismay, annoyance, or resignation. More... | |