Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, November 3, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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aplomb
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Possessive DeterminersPossessive determiners, also known as possessive adjectives, are a class of determiners that are used to modify nouns to denote possession. We use a different possessive determiner to correspond with each personal pronoun. What are the main possessive determiners in English? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 AtonalityMusical compositions that do not use an established musical key are said to be atonal. Atonality is a radical alternative to the diatonic system—the natural major or minor scales that form the basis of the key system in Western music. After World War I, an atonal system of composing emerged using 12 tones. By World War II, however, "atonality" had become a pejorative term to condemn music perceived as lacking structure and coherence. In Nazi Germany, atonal music was also criticized as what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Last Hanging at Tyburn Gallows (1783)In 1571, a novel triangular gallows allowing for the hanging of several people at once was erected in the English village of Tyburn, which became so famous for its executions that thousands of paying spectators would turn out for hangings. During a 1649 mass execution, 24 prisoners were hanged there. The site became synonymous with capital punishment and was commonly invoked in euphemisms like "to take a ride to Tyburn," meaning to go to one's hanging. Who was "Lord of the Manor of Tyburn"? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Vincenzo Bellini (1801)Bellini was an Italian composer who was born into a musical family and began composing in his childhood. He wrote his first opera at age 24 and went on to complete nine more before his death at age 33. His most celebrated works, which rely strongly on beautiful vocal melody and include the operas Norma and La Sonnambula—Italian for "The Sleepwalker"—greatly influenced the work of Giuseppe Verdi. According to legend, what musical feat could Bellini perform at just 18 months of age? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Never are voices so beautiful as on a winter's evening, when dusk almost hides the body, and they seem to issue from nothingness with a note of intimacy seldom heard by day.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a gong show— A wild, chaotic, ridiculous, and/or disastrous event. Sometimes written as "gongshow." From the 1976–1978 television show The Gong Show, an amateur talent contest in which judges would end particularly bad acts by striking a giant gong. Primarily heard in Canada. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Panama Independence Days (2023)Panama celebrates two Independence Days: November 28, the anniversary of freedom from Spain, and November 3, the anniversary of independence from Colombia. After gaining independence from Spain on November 28, 1821, Panama joined the Republic of Greater Colombia. For 50 years, Panama struggled for complete autonomy. In 1903, Colombia and Panama disagreed on whether to let the U.S. build a canal at Panama. With U.S. backing, Panama broke away on November 3, 1903, and the canal was built. November 3 is celebrated with parades and fireworks in Panama City. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: huskbeer nut - A peanut served with its husk but not its shell. More... brown sugar, brown rice - Brown sugar is unrefined or partially refined; brown rice is unpolished with only the husk removed. More... husk - A shortening of Dutch huisken, "little house." More... paddy - As in "field," it is from a Malay word meaning "rice in the straw or husk" (making rice paddy redundant). More... | |