Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, February 11, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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wretch
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Understanding Restrictive Relative ClausesRestrictive relative clauses identify the noun, giving us information about it that we need to know in order to understand the speaker's meaning. This type of clause does not need any commas. What is the restrictive relative clause in the following sentence? "The house where I was born is a very special place." More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 World of WarcraftAt its peak in 2010, World of Warcraft boasted 12 million players, making it by far the world's most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Set in the fictional world of Azeroth—a universe so detailed and sprawling that one can get lost—the game allows players to interact within the framework of an intricate social class system. What devastating in-game incident so closely resembled a real disease outbreak that it attracted the attention of research scientists? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Anthracite Coal First Burned as Residential Heating Fuel (1808)Anthracite is a compact variety of coal that was first burned as a residential heating fuel in the US by Judge Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It differs from wood in that it needs a draft from below. By burning it on an open grate in a fireplace, Fell proved that it could be a viable heating fuel. Fell's experiment took place 18 years after anthracite coal was said to have been discovered in Pennsylvania by hunter Necho Allen. According to legend, how did Allen "discover" anthracite? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839)Gibbs was an American mathematical physicist whose contributions to physical chemistry and thermodynamics have had a profound effect on industry, notably in the production of ammonia. He formulated the concept of chemical potential, and, in mathematics, was influential in developing vector analysis. Gibbs also contributed to crystallography, the determination of planetary and cometary orbits, and electromagnetic theory. His doctorate was the first granted in the US for what field? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I don't know if I should care for a man who made life easy; I should want someone who made it interesting.Edith Wharton (1862-1937) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hold (one's) nerve— To remain calm, steady, and resolute, especially in the face of danger or adversity. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes (2024)The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes commemorates the first of 18 appearances of the Virgin Mary to a 14-year-old French peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous. The young girl's visions occurred between February 11 and July 16, 1858, near the town of Lourdes. The Virgin led her to a nearby grotto, and the miraculous spring that appeared there has been associated ever since with the power to heal. Some five million people a year make the pilgrimage to Lourdes, making it one of the world's major pilgrimage sites. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: melancholyelegiac - Can mean "melancholy, mournful." More... brown study - Gloomy meditation or melancholy is known as being in a brown study. More... hypochondria - First referred to the upper abdomen and the organs under the ribs (liver, gall bladder, spleen)—thought to be the source of melancholy. More... | |