Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, December 18, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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chicanery
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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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 The AmbulocetusThough similar to crocodiles in appearance and behavior, Ambulocetus was actually an early cetacean—a member of the mammalian order that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. However, unlike today's cetaceans, Ambulocetus had legs and so could walk as well as swim. These and other key adaptations of the "walking whale" have helped scientists piece together the way in which whales evolved from land mammals. Ambulocetus lived 50 million years ago in what part of the world? 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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 All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions ... I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| 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... | |