Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, May 25, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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deadening
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining PhrasesPhrases are groups of two or more words that work together to perform a single grammatical function in a sentence. How do phrases differ from clauses? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Ask and EmblaIn Norse mythology, the first two creatures were the giant Ymir and the cow Audhumla. Ymir fathered a race of giants, and Audhumla created the first god, Buri. Buri's son, Borr, fathered the gods Odin, Vili, and Ve, who together destroyed Ymir and from his body fashioned the heavens and the earth. From two trees, the gods created the first man and woman—Ask and Embla. Ask's name derives from an Old Norse word meaning "ash tree"—from which he was formed. What is the derivation of Embla's name? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Six-Year-Old Etan Patz Abducted in New York (1979)In 1979, Etan Patz left his apartment by himself, for the very first time, to walk the two blocks to his school bus stop. He never made it there. His disappearance was widely covered by the media and led to the implementation of new methods for tracking down missing children, such as the milk carton campaigns of the 1980s. In 2010, the Manhattan district attorney announced that he had reopened the case into Patz's disappearance. Who was found liable for Patz's death in a civil case in 2004? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878)Robinson was an influential virtuoso tap dancer. An innovator, he was reputedly the first to dance on the balls of his feet instead of in the earlier flat-footed style. He began dancing professionally at the age of eight and became a popular nightclub and vaudeville performer. He first performed on Broadway in 1928 and was the first African American to star in a Ziegfield Follies. He appeared in 14 Hollywood features in the 1930s and 40s, including four that he made with which child actress? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Failure or success seem to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling, of fighting with their star or against it, and in the whole universe the only really interesting movement is this wriggle.E. M. Forster (1879-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be in for a surprise— To be guaranteed to receive or experience an unexpected outcome, especially a negative one. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Jordan Independence Day (2024)A treaty signed on this day in 1946 established the constitutional monarchy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and secured the nation's independence from Great Britain. Parades through the capital city of Amman mark the celebrations of this national holiday. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: musical instrumentpiano word - One in which all of its letters can be played as notes on a musical instrument (e.g. cabbage). More... cord, chord - Cord comes from Greek khorde, "gut, string of a musical instrument," and chord is a refashioning of cord. More... sweet potato - An informal name for the ocarina, a musical instrument. More... tone color - The same as timbre, the quality of sound that distinguishes one voice or musical instrument from another. More... | |