Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, April 4, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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efface
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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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 The Beach Pneumatic TransitThe first to attempt to build an underground public transit system in New York City was undertaken by inventor Alfred Ely Beach in 1869. Though it was operational within a year, the Beach Pneumatic Transit Company's 312-ft- (95-m-) long pneumatic subway line beneath Broadway remained little more than a curiosity and soon closed. Now a popular element of urban legend and subway lore, the line has been referenced in several literary works. What 1989 movie incorporates Beach's subway into its plot? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Bodies Found in Unsolved Hinterkaifeck Murders (1922)In 1922, Hinterkaifeck, a small farmstead north of Munich, became the scene of one of the most puzzling unsolved crimes in German history. On the evening of March 31, the farm's six inhabitants, ranging in age from two to 72, were brutally murdered. The perpetrator likely remained at the farm for several days thereafter, but by the time the crime was discovered, he or she had disappeared without a trace. What unexplained events supposedly occurred there in the days leading up to the slaughter? 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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 It is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating. Today, for instance, as man and woman, both lover and mistress, I rode in a forest on an autumn afternoon under the yellow leaves, and I was also the horses, the leaves, the wind, the words my people uttered, even the red sun that made them almost close their love-drowned eyes.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) | |
| 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: physicianallopathy, allopath, allopathist - Another word for conventional medical treatment is allopathy; an allopath or allopathist is a physician. More... pediatrician - Comes from Greek pais/paidos, "child," and iatros, "physician." More... armamentarium - The equipment of a medical institution or physician. More... | |