Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, June 1, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Semi-Modal Auxiliary VerbsSemi-modal auxiliary verbs are verbs that sometimes behave like modal auxiliary verbs. Like the "proper" modal verbs, they are used with the base form of verbs (the infinitive without "to") to create a unique meaning. What is the complete list of semi-modal verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Ultimate Fate of the UniverseA number of theories have been proposed regarding the ultimate fate of the universe. Some, like the Big Crunch and the Big Rip, suggest the universe will come to an end, while others conclude that it will exist for an infinite period of time. Most cosmologists agree that the universe's average density, the rate at which it expands, and the physical properties of the mass and energy in the universe will determine its ultimate fate. What is the difference between an open universe and a closed one? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Cable News Network (CNN) Begins Broadcasting (1980)CNN, a division of the Turner Broadcasting System owned by Time Warner, is widely credited with introducing the concept of 24-hour news coverage. Today, the network reaches more than 1 billion people in more than 200 countries. Its coverage of the Gulf War and other conflicts and crises of the early 1990s, including, perhaps most famously, the "Black Hawk Down" incident in Mogadishu, Somalia, led to the coining of the term "the CNN effect." What phenomenon does the phrase describe? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John Marshall Harlan (1833)After commanding a Union regiment in the American Civil War, Harlan served as a state attorney general before being appointed to the Supreme Court by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877. During his tenure, which lasted until his death in 1911, he became the court's outstanding liberal justice and one of the most forceful dissenters in its history. His best-known dissenting opinion came in Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the Supreme Court established what infamous doctrine? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be still in the game— To remain a contender for success despite setbacks or difficulties. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Samoa Independence Day (2024)Samoa (called Western Samoa until 1997) gained independence from New Zealand on January 1, 1962. Because the rainy season in Samoa comes in January, however, celebrations are held in June on the first day of the month. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: highesttop note - The highest in a piece of music or in a singer's vocal range. More... paramount, tantamount - Paramount means "primary, top," and tantamount means "equivalent to, same as"; paramount first meant "highest in jurisdiction." More... prime - Unusual since it can have virtually opposite meanings: "preliminary, basic" or "lowest"—as well as "finest" and "highest." More... supreme - Ultimately from Latin supra, "above," which begat supremus, "highest." More... | |