Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, June 21, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Rules for Using Prepositions with NounsCertain prepositions can be used in conjunction with nouns. There is no clear-cut rule that determines which prepositions connect to which nouns, but we can make an educated guess by looking at what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Simonetta VespucciSimonetta was the Genoese wife of the Italian nobleman Marco Vespucci of Florence. Renowned as the greatest beauty of her age, she was the subject of countless portraits, including many by the Italian master Sandro Botticelli. Some claim that the goddess depicted in Botticelli's masterpiece, Birth of Venus, was modeled after Simonetta, even though she died at the age of 22—several years before it was completed. What fact about Botticelli's burial place lends credence to the theory? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Molly Maguires Hanged in Pennsylvania (1877)The Molly Maguires was a secret organization of Irish-Americans who fought against the oppressive working conditions in the anthracite mining districts of Pennsylvania. Members often resorted to intimidation or murder when dealing with police, who were entirely controlled by the mine owners. At around the time the organization reached the height of its power, a detective was hired to infiltrate its ranks. His testimony led to the eventual hanging of 10 "Mollies." How did the group get its name? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859)Tanner was an American painter of religious and genre scenes. He studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he was the only black student. Tormented by racial persecution, he settled in Paris in 1891 and gained international acclaim, earning many awards for his landscapes and treatments of biblical themes. In 1927, he became the first African American granted full membership in the National Academy of Design. What was his most famous work? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is unsafe to take your reader for more of a fool than he is.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go through a phase— To experience or be in the midst of a temporary period of change, development, or fluctuation. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Midnight Sun Festival (2023)The Midnight Sun Festival is a celebration of the Summer Solstice in Nome, Alaska, where the sun shines for better than 22 hours a day in the peak of summer. The longest day of the year is feted with a street dance, blanket toss, barbecue, Monte Carlo night (gambling), Eskimo dances, and a parade. A river raft race has been held at midnight on June 21 since the 1960s. Various homemade rafts paddle down a one- to two-mile course on the Nome River, and the winning team claims a fur-lined honey bucket, which is passed on from year to year. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: proveprobe, prove, probable - Latin probare, "approve, prove, test," is the source of English probe and prove. From that came Latin probabilis, "provable," which became English probable. More... sooth, soothsayer, soothe - Sooth, "true, truth," or "that which is," is part of soothsayer; it is related to soothe, which once meant "assent to be true; say yes to," or "to prove or show a fact to be true." More... approve - Its original sense was "prove, demonstrate." More... rebut, refute - To rebut a statement is to offer clear evidence or a reasoned argument against it; to refute a statement is to prove it wrong (neither means "contradict" or "deny"). More... | |