Daily Content Archive

(as of Saturday, July 15, 2023)
Word of the Day

polliwog

Definition:(noun) A larval frog or toad.
Synonyms:tadpole
Usage: The boy found it hard to believe that this tiny, legless polliwog would someday sprout limbs and hop away a fully formed frog.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Using the Past Perfect Continuous for Past Durations of Time

We can use the past perfect continuous tense to describe the duration of continuous past action. The meaning is very similar to the present perfect continuous tense in this way. However, whereas the present perfect continuous describes an action that was happening up until the present moment, the past perfect continuous highlights what? More...
Article of the Day

Marco Polo

Marco Polo was a Venetian trader and explorer who, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China and visit with Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan. Polo helped generate extraordinary interest in the Far East among Europeans, and his book, Il Milione, was an instant hit at a time when books had to be painstakingly copied by hand. What famous explorer carried a heavily annotated copy of Polo's book? More...
This Day in History

John Ball Is Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered (1381)

Ball, an English priest and social reformer, gained fame as a roving preacher advocating ecclesiastical poverty and social equality, which brought him into conflict with the archbishop of Canterbury. He was jailed three times and excommunicated in 1376. Four years later, he became one of the instigators of the Peasant's Revolt of 1381—the first great popular rebellion in English history—and was later captured and hanged, drawn, and quartered. His unconventional behavior earned him what nickname? More...
Today's Birthday

Inigo Jones (1573)

Jones was one of England's first great architects. After studying in Italy, he brought Renaissance architecture to England. His best known buildings are the Queen's House at Greenwich, London, and the Banqueting House at Whitehall, which is often considered his greatest achievement. For his design of Covent Garden, London's first square, Jones is credited with the introduction of town planning in England. Jones was also involved in stage design for theater and is credited with what innovations? More...
Quotation of the Day
My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.

Anna Sewell (1820-1878)

Idiom of the Day

hard knocks

The real and practical experiences of life, especially those involving hardship or adversity. More...
Today's Holiday

Festival of Castor and Pollux (2023)

In Greco-Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux were twin gods who helped shipwrecked sailors and received sacrifices for favorable winds. Worshipped as the Dioscuri (from the Greek Dioskouroi, or "sons of Zeus"), their cult was a popular one in 484 BCE, when, according to legend, the twins fought on the side of the Romans in the Battle of Lake Regillus and brought word of their victory to Rome. A temple was built for them in the Forum, and it was here that the annual festival in their honor was celebrated on July 15. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: litter

reckling, wallydrag - Reckling and wallydrag are both names for the runt of a litter. More...

farrow - Now the term for a litter of pigs, it originally meant "young pig," from Indo-European porkos. More...

queen - A litter-bearing female cat. More...

tantony - The smallest pig in a litter. More...

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