Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, April 4, 2022)Word of the Day | |||||||
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caper
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Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Action Verbs that Take GerundsCertain action verbs (also called "dynamic verbs") can also take a gerund as their object if describing a secondary action. "Consider" is one such action verb. What is the gerund in the following sentence? "He is considering moving to London." More... |
Article of the Day | |
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Makeup: From Kohl to CosmeceuticalsCosmetics have been used for millennia to simulate or enhance the appearance of youthfulness, health, and beauty—eye makeup and scented creams were used by the ancient Egyptians as early as the 4th millennium BCE—but they have not always been viewed favorably. In the 19th century, for example, Queen Victoria publicly declared the use of makeup by anyone other than actors to be improper and vulgar. Today, however, the cosmetics industry is thriving. How much is spent on cosmetics each year? More... |
This Day in History | |
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Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan Executed (1979)Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party, served as president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and as prime minister from 1973 to 1977. In the 1970 parliamentary elections, Bhutto's party won a majority of seats in West Pakistan, but East Pakistan's Mujibur Rahman won an overall majority. The power struggle that followed led to a civil war in which East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, gained its independence and Bhutto rose to become president of Pakistan. Why was he executed in 1979? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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Antoine Galland (1646)Antoine Galland was a French scholar famed as the first European translator of The Thousand and One Nights. After translating The Tale of Sindbad the Sailor into French in 1701, he embarked on a translation of a 14th-century Syrian manuscript of the tales, filling 12 volumes. Still, mystery surrounds the origins of some of the most famous tales. No Arabic manuscripts of Aladdin and Ali Baba pre-date Galland's translations, leading some scholars to conclude what? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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The ultimate in disposing one's troops is to be without ascertainable shape. Then the most penetrating spies cannot pry in nor can the wise lay plans against you. Sun Tzu (544 BC-496 BC) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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dirty money— Money that is obtained or earned through illicit or illegal means, especially thievery, bribery, forgery, or money laundering. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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Megalesia (2023)The cult of the Phrygian goddess Cybele (also known as Magna Mater) was established in Rome on this day in 204 BCE, and April 4 continued to be set aside as a commemoration of the foreign goddess' arrival in Rome. In the beginning, no Roman citizens were allowed to take part in it. But over time it spread to the streets of Rome, where Cybele's image was carried in a chariot drawn by lions with her castrated priests leaping and gashing themselves in a frenzy of devotion. The procession went from the Palatine to the Circus, where plays known as ludi megalenses were held. More... |
Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sickanointing of the sick - The Catholic sacrament in which a priest anoints a dying person with oil and prays for salvation. More... decumbiture - The act of going to bed when sick. More... ill - Originally meant not "sick" but "bad," and was borrowed from Old Norse illr; the sense of "sick" arrived in the 15th century. More... nauseous, nauseated - Nauseous ("sickening") is an adjective describing something that causes nausea; the adjective for the feeling ("made sick") is nauseated. More... |