Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, May 30, 2022)Word of the Day | |||||||
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scruple
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Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming Complex SentencesThe order of the independent and dependent clause in a complex sentence is flexible. We can structure complex sentences with the independent clause first or with the dependent clause first. When the dependent clause is placed first, what do we generally follow it with? More... |
Article of the Day | |
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The Holy GrailIn Christian mythology, the Holy Grail is the dish, cup, bowl, or chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers. According to many versions of the story, Joseph of Arimathea used the Grail to catch drops of Jesus' blood at the Crucifixion and then took the object to Britain, where he founded a line of guardians to protect it. The quest for the Holy Grail also makes up an important part of the Arthurian cycle. Which knight is most closely associated with the Grail? More... |
This Day in History | |
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Old West Outlaw Pearl Hart Robs a Stagecoach (1899)Hart was an American outlaw whose notoriety stemmed primarily from the fact that she was female. Her early life was fairly ordinary. She grew up wealthy and eloped at 16. In 1893, after seeing Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, she left her abusive husband and went west, where she acquired a taste for cigars, liquor, and morphine. In 1899, she helped rob a stagecoach, making away with over $400. She was apprehended, escaped, was recaptured, and then tried for her crimes. Why was she later pardoned? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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René Barrientos (1919)Barrientos was elected vice president of Bolivia in 1964, but he soon broke with the president and joined other army officers in a coup. He was installed as head of a military junta and became the sole president after winning the 1966 elections. He launched a moderate—albeit military—administration, retaining the reforms instituted by his predecessors. Three years later, he died in a helicopter crash. Why did he once jump out of an airplane with a parachute that had earlier failed to open? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never attained. Follow some other object, and very possibly we may find that we have caught happiness without dreaming of it. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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in no way, shape, or form— In no possible manner; under no circumstances; not by any means. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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Kaamatan Festival (2024)Kaamatan is a festival and public holiday in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. The festival is celebrated by the Kadazandusun people, the largest indigenous ethnic group in Sabah. Irrigated rice is their principal crop, and the harvest is a ritual dedicated to the Bambaazon, or rice spirit. If the harvest has been good, this is a thanksgiving; if it has been poor, the ritual is an appeasement of the spirit. This festival is celebrated during the month of May with carnivals, special exhibits, sports competitions, and a regatta, all leading up to the harvest rituals on May 30-31 in Penampang. More... |
Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: railwayMain Line - The principal line of a railway (1841), it also has the meaning "affluent area of residence" (1930s), originally that of Philadelphia, from the "main line" of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which added local stops to a string of backwater towns west of the city in late 19th century that helped turn them into fashionable suburbs. More... one-track mind - Is a reference to the railway. More... railway - The word was first recorded in 1776, but the first actual railway opened nearly 50 years later, in 1825. More... sidetrack - First used for a railway siding or a minor track or path. More... |