Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, November 4, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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imperishable
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Relative ClausesRelative clauses (also known as adjective clauses or adjectival clauses) are dependent clauses that provide descriptive information about a noun or noun phrase. What introduces a relative clause? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Siku QuanshuCompiled at the height of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century, the Siku Quanshu, or Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, is a collection of more than 3,400 works of Chinese literature in more than 36,000 volumes. Over 10,000 works had been considered for inclusion, but many were rejected as anti-Manchu and destroyed. Of the seven original copies, which were painstakingly transcribed by hand, four have survived. How were the collection’s many scribes compensated for their work? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Japanese Prime Minister Hara Takashi Assassinated (1921)Cofounder of one of Japan's first political parties, Hara served as prime minister of Japan from 1918 to 1921, becoming the first commoner to be appointed to that office. During that time, he suppressed labor organization while extending suffrage to small landholders by lowering the property qualifications for voting. Hara also attempted to reduce the power of the military, which led to his assassination by a fanatic. Which of his possessions did he describe as his most valuable in his will? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Will Rogers (1879)Rogers was an American humorist and actor. A cowboy in his youth, Rogers traveled the world before returning to the US to perform in vaudeville and Wild West shows as a rider and trick roper. The "cowboy philosopher's" homespun wit and salty commentary on current political and social events soon earned him a following through movies, books, radio, and a syndicated newspaper column. A champion of airplane travel, Rogers made several long plane trips, but died in a crash with what famous aviator? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Perhaps his might be one of the natures where a wise estimate of consequences is fused in the fires of that passionate belief which determines the consequences it believes in.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have good antennae— To be very sensitive (to something); to have a keen sense of detection or perception. Likened to the antennae of (e.g.) an insect, which are extremely sensitive to environmental stimuli. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tonga National Day (2023)Located in the Pacific Ocean some 1,250 miles north of New Zealand, the island nation of Tonga consists of about 150 islands, 36 of which are inhabited. With a population of about 120,000, Tonga is ruled by a royal family that goes back to 1831. On November 4, 1875, King George Tupou I gave his consent to the constitution of the new nation of Tonga. Celebrated for many years as Tonga Constitution Day, the holiday was renamed by the government in 2006 as Tonga National Day and pronounced as an occasion to celebrate the country's heritage as a whole. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: voteco-opt - "To select (someone) for a group or club by a vote of members," it is from Latin cooptare, "to choose as a colleague or member of one's tribe"; its sense of "take over" came by 1953. More... ostracism - In ancient Greece, when it was proposed that a person be sent into exile, a vote was taken and the method of registering the vote involved putting the name on a piece of broken pottery called ostrakon; casting the vote was ostrakizein, giving us English ostracism. More... red state, blue state - A red state is any U.S. state that tends to vote for candidates of the Republican party in a general election; a blue state votes for Democratic candidates. More... chirotonize - To elect by voting or to vote. More... | |