Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, June 11, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Relative Pronouns as Objects of PrepositionsIn certain cases, relative pronouns can be used as objects of prepositions, meaning the relative pronoun works in conjunction with a preposition to modify the subject or verb of the relative clause. Only three relative pronouns can function as objects of prepositions. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Sir Thomas Phillipps and His Multitude of BooksAn English antiquary and book collector, Phillipps amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century. He suffered from severe bibliomania—an obsessive-compulsive disorder involving the collecting or hoarding of books—and spent much of his inherited fortune expanding his holdings, which ultimately contained some 100,000 books and manuscripts and was arguably the largest collection amassed by a single individual. How long did it take to disperse the works after his death? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Thich Quang Duc Commits Self-Immolation (1963)In the early 1960s, the policies of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, a member of the Catholic minority, generated claims of religious bias against the vast Buddhist majority. In 1963, Duc, a Buddhist monk, protested by dousing himself with gasoline and burning himself to death at a Saigon intersection. Photos of his self-immolation quickly spread around the world, and the event is widely seen as the turning point that led to a regime change. Which of Duc's organs has been preserved? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gene Wilder (1933)Wilder was just 8 years old when his ailing mother's doctor urged him to try making her laugh. The boy took those words to heart and developed a passion for performing that eventually led him to Hollywood. He is best known for his roles in comedy classics like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein. He cowrote the latter film with producer and director Mel Brooks, and their screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Which film sequel's script beat them out? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I am Envy...I cannot read and therefore wish all books burned.Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go the way of the dinosaur(s)— To become extinct, obsolete, old-fashioned, or no longer in common use. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Barnabas's Day (2023)Before England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, June 11 was the day of the Summer Solstice. In addition to being the longest day of the year, it was also St. Barnabas's Day (or Barnaby Day), and this association gave rise to the old English jingle, "Barnaby bright, Barnaby bright, the longest day and the shortest night." It was customary on this day for the priests and clerks in the Church of England to wear garlands of roses and to decorate the church with them. Other names for this day were Long Barnaby and Barnaby Bright. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: remoteremote - From Latin remotus, the past participle of removere, "remove." More... remote sensing - The scanning of the earth by satellite or aircraft to obtain information about it. More... devious - Its literal meaning is "out of the way," from Latin de via—applied to a place that was remote because it was off the main road. More... remote control - The term existed by 1904, and the shortened version, remote, was used in print by 1966. More... | |