Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, December 5, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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AdverbsAn adverb refers to any element in a sentence used to modify a verb, adjective, another adverb, or even an entire clause. What is an adverbial? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 ShirazShiraz is a southern Iranian city near the extensive ruins of ancient Persepolis—the capital of Persia established by Darius I and plundered by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. In the 18th century, Karim Khan briefly made Shiraz the capital of Persia, adorning it with fine buildings. Shiraz has long been regarded as an economic and cultural center of Iran, famous for its eponymous wine, gardens, carpets, shrines, and mosques, as well as its poets and philosophers. Which poets are buried here? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Papal Bull Bestows Authority to Prosecute Witchcraft in Germany (1484)In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus—Desiring with supreme ardor. Sometimes blamed for inspiring the witch-hunts that became increasingly common in the coming centuries, the bull recognizes the existence of witches, gives Dominican Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany, and urges local ecclesiastical authorities to cooperate with inquisitors. Kramer later retired and co-wrote what treatise on witchcraft? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Christina Rossetti (1830)Christina Rossetti was one of England's most important female poets of the Victorian era. It is little wonder that she became a poet, given her lineage. Her great-grandfather was a poet, her grandfather was a writer and scholar, and her father was the famous poet and scholar Gabriele Rossetti. Her three siblings followed similar paths. Religious themes dominate her poems, which run the gamut from romantic to devotional to children's poetry. What popular Christmas carol did she pen? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 All visible objects ... are but as pasteboard masks.Herman Melville (1819-1891) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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H-E-double-hockey-sticks— A euphemistic spelling of "hell," referring to each L resembling a hockey stick in shape. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (2023)In 1985 the United Nations established December 5 as International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development. The Assembly hoped that in so doing, it would draw favorable attention to the contribution made by these volunteers, and thus inspire more people to serve the world community as volunteers. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: parentabdicate - Implies a giving up of sovereign power or the evasion of responsibility (as a parent). More... half blood - Relationship through only one parent. More... in loco parentis - Latin for "in the place of a parent." More... patrial - Means having the right to live in the UK through the British birth of a parent or grandparent. More... | |