Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, April 30, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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comely
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Indefinite Articles with Uncountable NounsUncountable nouns cannot take the indefinite articles "a" or "an" in a sentence. Why not? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de Bergerac is an 1897 play by Edmond Rostand whose title character was inspired by a 17th-century writer with an exceptionally large nose. Rostand's play, written entirely in rhymed couplets, relates the tale of Cyrano, a soldier and poet, who falls in love with the beautiful Roxane. Rather than woo Roxane himself, the large-nosed Cyrano provides his handsome friend, Christian, with the dialogue to win her heart. What word did this play introduce into the English language? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Hitler Commits Suicide (1945)In the final days of World War II, as the Red Army of the Soviet Union was closing in on his underground bunker in Berlin, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide by shooting himself while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule. Hitler's body and that of Eva Braun—his mistress whom he had wed the day before—were then placed in a bomb crater, doused with gasoline, and set on fire by German officials. How did Soviet soldiers identify Hitler's remains? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Mary II of England (1662)Despite the conversion of her father, King James II, to Roman Catholicism, Mary was raised Protestant, a fact that would become important in her later life. In 1688, English nobles opposed to James's pro-Catholic policies overthrew him and selected Mary and her husband, William of Orange, to rule in his place. Mary enjoyed great popularity as co-ruler of England, but her personal life was full of hardship. What were some of the major sources of unhappiness in her life? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Man's desire for the approval of his fellows is so strong, his dread of their censure so violent, that he himself has brought his enemy within his gates; and it keeps watch over him, vigilant always in the interests of its master to crush any half-formed desire to break away from the herd.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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first port of call— The first place where one stops to visit, accomplish something, or begin a process. Taken from nautical terminology, referring to the first port that a seafaring vessel calls in to at the beginning of a voyage. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 May Day Eve (Czech Republic) (2023)According to an old Czech superstition, witches try to enter people's homes on the eve of May Day and do them harm. The "Burning of the Witches" ceremony is observed in some parts of the country by building bonfires on the mountain tops. In Postupice, a town in the Bohemian region, a Maypole and Burning of the Witches Festival is held April 30-May 1 every year. The young men put up a maypole in the village square on the afternoon of April 30. The next day the burning of the witches takes place, when the villagers throw their broomsticks into the bonfire and burn the witches in effigy. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: poetryfound poem - A passage within prose that unintentionally reads like poetry. More... stich - A line of poetry. More... free verse - Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter. More... metrophobia - The fear of poetry. More... | |