Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, April 20, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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environ
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming Compound NounsCompound nouns are formed by combining two or more words, with the most common combinations being noun + noun or adjective + noun. However, combinations using other parts of speech are also possible. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of NantucketThe only complete novel written by Edgar Allen Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket describes the fantastic adventures—and misadventures—of the eponymous character, who stows away on a whaling ship. Though the 1838 novel influenced writers such as Melville and Verne, Poe—who is best known for his short tales of the macabre—called the novel "a silly book." Contemporary reviews were likewise unfavorable, and readers disliked the book's abrupt ending, in which what happens? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Columbine High School Massacre (1999)Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were seniors at Colorado's Columbine High School when they carried out one of the deadliest school shootings in US history, killing 12 students and one teacher and injuring 21 others before taking their own lives. The incident, widely covered by the media, stirred debate about the pair's motivation for the killings, the availability of firearms, and the role of bullying, video games, and music in acts of violence. For what crime had the two been previously arrested? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Philippe Pinel (1745)After moving to Paris in 1778, Pinel, a French physician, was appointed director of the Bicêtre and Salpêtrière hospitals. His experiences there prompted him to advocate for the humane treatment of mentally ill persons—then called the insane—and for the empirical study of mental disease. He further contributed to the development of psychiatry by establishing the practice of thoroughly documenting psychiatric case histories for research. What initially inspired Pinel's interest in mental illness? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation.Mary Shelley (1797-1851) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in the sticks— In the countryside, especially in a rustic or particularly unsophisticated area. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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.jpg) National Poetry Month (2024)Established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, this month-long event centers attention on the contributions and accomplishments of American poets. It is celebrated primarily by educational institutions, libraries, bookstores, and nonprofit organizations throughout the United States and Canada, and its activities include poetry readings, poetry festivals, displays and exhibits, workshops, and other events designed to help Americans of all ages learn more about poetry and its place in our contemporary culture. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pityalms - Goes back to Greek eleemosune, "compassion, pity," and eleos, "mercy." More... bemoan, lament - Bemoaning is motivated when pity or grief is over an event that is joined to a consequence, whereas lamenting is motivated when the grief is over the event itself. More... pity, piety - Pity and piety shared the meanings "compassion" and "dutifulness, reverence" for a while. More... ruth, ruthless, ruthful - Ruth, meaning "compassion, pity," is part of ruthless and ruthful. More... | |