Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, June 26, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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touchstone
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Participle Phrases in Middle PositionWhen a participle phrase occurs in the middle position, and is not essential to the meaning of the sentence, it should be set apart from the rest of the sentence by two commas. However, if a participle phrase occurs in the middle position and is essential to the meaning of the sentence, how should it be punctuated? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 FermentationFermentation is the process by which a living cell obtains energy by breaking down simple sugars and other molecules without using oxygen. It occurs in different chemical sequences in different species of organisms. In alcoholic fermentation, known to humans for at least 7,000 years, the glucose molecule is degraded to two molecules of the two-carbon alcohol, ethanol, and to two molecules of carbon dioxide. What serious illness can result from eating fermented food? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Pied Piper Abducts the Children of Hamelin (1284)According to a centuries-old legend set in Hamelin, Germany, the Pied Piper was hired by local residents in 1284 to rid the town of rats, which he did by charming them with music and leading them to the river to drown. When the citizens refused to pay him the agreed upon price, he exacted his revenge by charming away their children. Famous versions of the legend were immortalized by Goethe, Robert Browning, and the Brothers Grimm. What historic events may have inspired the tale? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Pearl S. Buck (1892)Buck was raised in China by her American missionary parents and left the country but a few times before she was 40. She drew upon her experiences there in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Good Earth, which describes the struggles of a Chinese peasant and his slave wife. Together with Sons and A House Divided, it forms a trilogy, part of the body of work that earned Buck the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. Buck also wrote five novels under what pseudonym? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Words are but wind; and learning is nothing but words; ergo, learning is nothing but wind.Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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good job— An informal expression of praise for having done something well. (It can also be used sarcastically to mean the opposite.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Madagascar Independence Day (2023)This national holiday commemorates Madagascar's independence from France on this day in 1960. Republic Day is another public holiday in Madagascar, held on December 30, the day the new constitution went into effect. The country became a republic in 1975. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: vigorvim, vigor - Vim is the same as vigor. More... bouncing - In bouncing baby, it means "vigorous." More... feckful - Means "efficient, vigorous," or "powerful." More... macho, machismo - Macho is from Mexican Spanish, meaning "male animal or plant" or "masculine, vigorous"—from Latin masculus, "male"; machismo (pronounced mah-CHEEZ-mo) is based on macho. More... | |