Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, January 26, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Parts of SpeechThe parts of speech are the primary categories of words according to their function in a sentence. English has seven main parts of speech. Can you name all seven? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Alchemy in the Islamic WorldIn the 8th century, alchemy, a pseudoscience focused on transforming base metals into gold, reached the Islamic world. Over the next several centuries, Muslim alchemists revolutionized the field, introducing scientific method into alchemical research and developing apparatuses like the alembic, still, and retort, which are still in use in laboratories today, and chemical processes such as pure distillation and filtration. Which Arab alchemist has been called "the father of chemistry"? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Rum Rebellion (1808)The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was the only successful armed takeover of government in the history of Australia. It began when New South Wales governor William Bligh was deposed by George Johnston, commander of the New South Wales Corps. The coup was a retaliation against attempts by successive governors to curb the power of the Corps and interfere with its lucrative rum trade—which gave the rebellion its name. The coup was the second time Bligh had been the victim of a rebellion. What was the first? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman (1892)Coleman was an American civil aviator who became the first female pilot of African-American descent and the first person of African-American descent to hold an international pilot license. After attaining her license in France, Coleman continued to train extensively and earned a living as a stunt pilot in air shows, earning the nickname "Queen Bess." She died in an aviation accident in 1926, but her legacy inspired countless aviators. What led to the accident that resulted in Coleman's death? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.Washington Irving (1783-1859) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hair-splittingly— With extremely minute, unimportant, or imperceptible differences or details. (Used before an adjective.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Douglas MacArthur Day (2024)Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964), five-star general and supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific during World War II, was born on this day in Little Rock, Arkansas. After the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, it was MacArthur who supervised the surrender ceremony in Tokyo. He directed the demobilization of Japanese military forces and the drafting of a new constitution. His birthday is observed in his home state of Arkansas, where he is widely remembered as one of the state's most famous sons. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tuneaccordion, concertina - Accordion derives from Italian accordare, "to tune," and both it and the concertina operate on the same basic principle; however, the accordion has a pianolike keyboard and is rectangular and bulky, while the concertina has buttons in headboards and is hexagonal and more portable. More... carol - A term which originally referred to a non-religious ring dance accompanied by singing. Eventually it came to mean a merry song with a tune that could be danced to. The Italian friars who lived with St. Francis of Assisi were the first to compose Christmas carols, c. 1410. More... lilt - Comes from a word meaning "pipe," and the noun originally meant "song, tune." More... perseveration - The recurrence of a tune or thought in the mind. More... | |