Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, January 21, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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habitue
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Modal Auxiliary Verbs - WillAs a modal auxiliary verb, "will" is particularly versatile, having several different meanings and functions, including to form future tenses. It is also used to express an expected hypothetical outcome in what type of sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Henry Morrison FlaglerFlagler, an American financier, was John D. Rockefeller's business partner and a key figure in the development of Florida as a winter playground. After visiting the state in 1883 and seeing its inadequate transportation and hotel facilities, he worked to improve them. He bought up and consolidated several local railroads and organized the Florida East Coast Railway. He also established steamship lines, dredged the Miami harbor, and built palatial hotels. What accident contributed to his death? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Death of Last Native Speaker Leads to Extinction of Eyak Language (2008)Eyak is an extinct language that was spoken in Alaska, near the mouth of the Copper River. Marie Smith Jones, the language's last native speaker, as well as the last full-blooded Eyak, died in 2008 at the age of 89. Before her death, she worked with experts to compile a dictionary that would allow future generations to revive the language. With no native speakers left in the world, Eyak became a symbol in the effort against language extinction. Which languages are the closest relatives to Eyak? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Karl Wallenda (1905)Wallenda was a German-born US circus acrobat and founder and leader of the acrobatic troupe that came to be known as the Flying Wallendas. The group gained notoriety in Europe for its high-wire acts without a safety net before developing its most famous act—the seven-person pyramid, topped by Wallenda's wife, Helen. The troupe traveled with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and later performed as freelancers. Wallenda continued performing until age 73. How did he die? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 One person I have to make good: myself. But my duty to my neighbor is much more nearly expressed by saying that I have to make him happy—if I may.Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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all the difference in the world— The greatest degree of difference that is possible or conceivable. Without the verbs "mean" or "make," it is used to compare two disparate things. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of Our Lady of Altagracia (2024)A cloth painting of the Virgin Mary is the focus of a yearly celebration in the Dominican Republic. It was painted by a Spanish artist and brought to the Dominican Republic in the early 1500s. The portrait, which was crowned by a gold and silver tiara by Pope John Paul II in 1978, is located in a basilica in the city of Higuey, in the province of Altagracia. Every year on January 21, thousands of pilgrims visit the Higuey cathedral to worship. The feast day is a national holiday and is marked by all-night church services, singing, dancing, and festivals. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sailscrab-skuit - A small, open fishing boat with sails. More... haul - Originally had the nautical meaning of "to trim the sails to sail closer to the wind." More... sail - Once meant specifically "to travel on a ship with sails," and, later, "to travel on any ship"; figuratively, it means "to go through effortlessly," as in, "to sail through the exam." More... three sheets to the wind - Pertains to chains that regulate the angle of sails; if the sheets were loose, the boat would become unstable and tipsy. More... | |