Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, August 7, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Predicate NounsNouns that follow linking verbs are known as "predicate nouns" (or sometimes "predicative nouns" or "predicate nominatives"). What do they serve to do? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 KlezmerKlezmer is a form of instrumental Jewish folk music that had its beginnings in the Middle Ages. Its name is a Yiddishized version of the Hebrew klei zemir, meaning "instruments of song," that until the mid-20th century referred to the musicians rather than the music. Largely based on cantorial singing and the folk music of Eastern Europe, klezmer has a distinctive sound that is reminiscent of the human voice. Itinerant musicians from what ethnic group influenced the genre's development? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Battle of Guadalcanal Begins (1942)During World War II, the Japanese occupied the island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. Hoping to prevent the Japanese from using this position to threaten supply routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand, the Allies launched their first large-scale invasion of a Japanese-held island. After six months of bitter fighting on the ground, at sea, and in the air, the Allies captured the island. Why is the victory considered a strategically significant turning point in the war? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John Heathcoat (1783)Heathcoat was not the first person to invent a lacemaking machine, but his apparatus was the first to produce an exact imitation of handmade pillow lace. Patented in 1809, it was the most complex textile machine then in existence. Heathcoat decided to capitalize on his invention by opening a lace mill, but textile workers, angry that they were being replaced by machines, attacked and destroyed it in 1816. Undeterred, he opened a new mill elsewhere. What happened to the steam plough he invented? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 No affectation of peculiarity can conceal a commonplace mind.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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half-pint— Any small, weak, and/or insignificant person. Alludes to a pint, a unit of liquid measurement. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Côte d'Ivoire Independence Day (2023)Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) was granted independence from France on August 7, 1960. It had been a French colony since 1893. Independence Day is a national holiday in Ivory Coast, celebrated with parades, dancing, and fireworks. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tableswaitron - A person, male or female, who waits on tables at a restaurant. More... backgammon - Appears to literally mean "back game," and was first called tables; gammon is the ancestor of game. More... busboy - A person who clears the dirty dishes from diners' tables, so called from his "bus" or trolley. More... turn the tables - May come from backgammon, as the game itself was once called tables, and the two halves of the playing board are still called tables. More... | |