Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, December 2, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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bellicose
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Modal Auxiliary Verbs - ShouldThe modal verb "should" is used in a variety of ways, including to politely express obligations or duties and to ask for or issue advice. Why is "should" sometimes used instead of "will" or "shall"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Rice PaddiesIn Asian countries where traditional methods of rice cultivation are practiced, rice is grown in flooded fields called rice paddies. The fields are first prepared by plowing, fertilizing, and smoothing, and seedlings are started in seedling beds. They are then transplanted by hand to the fields, which have been flooded by rain or river water. Irrigation is maintained by dike-controlled canals or by hand watering until the fields are drained for harvesting. What is the origin of the word "paddy"? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Monroe Doctrine (1823)In his 1823 address to Congress, US President James Monroe laid out the terms of the American foreign policy that would become known as the Monroe Doctrine, effectively declaring the Western Hemisphere off-limits to European colonization. Concerned that European powers would attempt to restore Spain's former colonies, he declared that any attempt by a European power to control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act. How was the doctrine applied during the Cold War? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Georges-Pierre Seurat (1859)Seurat was the French neoimpressionist painter who devised pointillism, the technique of juxtaposing tiny brushstrokes of contrasting colors. He used this method to create huge compositions, including his masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. One of the most intellectual artists of his time, Seurat influenced a return to deliberate design in painting at a time when sketching from nature had become the mode. How long did it take him to complete his masterpiece? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Both in thought and in feeling, even though time be real, to realise the unimportance of time is the gate of wisdom.Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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heave into view— To move or rise into sight, especially from a distance. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 United Arab Emirates National Day (2023)This national holiday commemorates the December 2, 1971, expiration of a British treaty that inhibited self-rule for the sheikhdoms on the Persian Gulf in the eastern Arabian peninsula, and the union of seven of the sheikhdoms in the former Trucial States to become the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates' major cities celebrate National Day on December 2-3. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: raisincurrant - Developed from Middle English raison of Corauntz, "a raisin of Corinth," from where the fruit came. More... figgy pudding - From the dialect term fig, which meant "raisin." More... frail - Fifty pounds of raisins. More... passulate - To dry grapes to make raisins, from Latin passula, "raisins." More... | |