Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, December 18, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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tuneful
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Subject ComplementsA subject complement is the information that follows a linking verb to describe, identify, or rename the subject of the clause. What are the three types of subject complements? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 ShamashOne of the great deities in Mesopotamian religion, Shamash was the god of the Sun, who, with his father, the Moon god Sin, and the goddess Ishtar, was part of an astral triad of divinities. As the solar god, Shamash was the heroic conqueror of night and death, and he became known as the god of justice and equity. He was said to have presented the Code of Hammurabi to the Babylonian king, and at night he served as judge of the underworld. In what Babylonian epic is Shamash mentioned? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Nutcracker Premieres (1892)Now a beloved Christmastime classic, The Nutcracker ballet premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, to fairly negative reviews. Even Tchaikovsky himself, the composer responsible for the score, found the ballet lacking. Despite its initial failure, the ballet about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and battles the evil Mouse King has since become a holiday favorite. What helped turn things around for The Nutcracker? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Robert Moses (1888)For 40 years, Moses—"master builder" of mid-20th-century New York—held a series of municipal positions that allowed him to radically change the city and its environs by creating a system of parkways, bridges, tunnels, and housing projects. Arguably the most powerful person in state government from the 1930s to the 1950s, he is credited with building 416 miles of parkway, 13 major bridges, and 658 playgrounds and setting aside over 2 million acres of parkland. Why was his approach controversial? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Don't tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know the fish.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hobby-horse— A subject, topic, or issue about which one frequently or incessantly talks, expounds, or complains. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Niger Republic Day (2023)On August 3, 1960, Niger gained full independence from France, after having been a colony since 1922. Niger had voted to become a republic on December 18, 1958. August 3 is a national holiday celebrating Independence Day, while December 18 is Republic Day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: nimbleagile - Means having quick motion and being nimble, from Latin agere, "to do." More... flippant - Once meant "flexible, nimble, pliant." More... chopsticks - In Chinese, the word for chopsticks originally meant "quick sticks" or "nimble ones." More... wieldy - Means "easily controlled or handled," and once meant "agile, nimble." More... | |