Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, October 3, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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plaintive
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Predicative AdjectivesA predicative adjective (or predicate adjective) is used in the predicate of a clause to describe either the subject of the clause or the direct object. Predicative adjectives that describe the subject of the clause will follow a linking verb. In such cases, they are known as what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 RouletteRoulette emerged in late 18th-century European casinos and has remained popular with gamblers to this day. In the game, a horizontal wheel is spun and a ball is dropped onto it. Players may bet on which of the wheel's numbered slots the ball will come to rest in, what color the slot will be, and whether the number will be odd or even. Though roulette is ostensibly a game of chance, players have repeatedly tried to improve their odds. How did one engineer exploit the game to win $325,000 in 1873? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 O.J. Simpson Found Not Guilty in the "Trial of the Century" (1995)In 1994, Simpson, a former football star, was charged with the murder of his estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. His trial was a media-saturated event that highlighted racial tensions in America and resulted in his acquittal in 1995. In 1997, a civil jury levied a $33.5 million wrongful-death award against him in a suit brought by the victims' families. Simpson's infamous car chase in June 1994 interrupted TV coverage of what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 James Alfred Wight, AKA James Herriot (1916)After working for many years as a veterinary surgeon in rural England, Wight was persuaded by his wife to write down his collection of anecdotes. His humorous, fictionalized reminiscences were published under the pen name James Herriot in If Only They Could Talk (1970) and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1972), issued in the US as the single and massively successful volume All Creatures Great and Small. Why did Wight feel the need to write under a pseudonym? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule.Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have rocks in (one's) head— To be thoroughly stupid, crazy, absurd, incorrect, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Honduras Soldiers' Day (2023)This celebration is held on the birthday of Francisco Morazán (1792–1842), a highly revered Honduran general and statesman. Morazán's achievements as a military leader in various liberation struggles led the Honduran government to designate his birthday as the official date to honor the country's soldiers. The day's main celebration is a military parade that takes place in Tegucigalpa, Honduras's capital city. The procession features the service members of every branch of the armed forces, along with dozens of tanks and artillery carriers. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: slaveamanuensis - Literally "slave at hand"—for a literary assistant, especially one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts. More... ciao - Also ciau; from Italian, it is an alteration of schiavo, "(I am your) slave." More... serve - From Latin servire, "serve," from servus, "slave." More... addict - To addict originally meant "to award as a slave"; an addict now is a slave to his/her habit, from Latin addictus, which, in Roman law, meant "a debtor awarded as a slave to his creditor." More... | |