Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 10, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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assiduity
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using the Future Perfect ContinuousThe future perfect continuous tense is used in a very similar way to the future perfect to describe the duration of a completed future action. They both carry the same meaning when used in this way, but the future perfect continuous emphasizes what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 William II of EnglandWilliam Rufus was a Norman king of England who disliked the English and their culture and was, in turn, despised by his subjects and in conflict with the church. He inherited the throne in 1087 from his father, who had conquered England, and he ruled until 1100, subjugating Scotland and Wales. He never married or produced offspring, and his younger brother succeeded him after he was killed by a misfired arrow. Why do some question whether his death was really an accident? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 General Tom Thumb Marries Lavinia Warren (1863)General Tom Thumb, born Charles Sherwood Stratton, began touring with circus pioneer P.T. Barnum in 1843 at the tender age of four. Stratton's short stature—he was a mere 3 feet, 4 inches (102 cm) tall when he died—and his comedic impersonations made him an international hit. His courtship of Lavinia Warren, another one of Barnum's performers, led to a fashionable New York City wedding in 1863, and the pair was later received at the White House. Stratton died in 1883. What marks his grave? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Mark Spitz (1950)During the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, Jewish-American swimmer Mark Spitz shot to sporting fame when he captured seven gold medals, a feat unequaled by any other athlete in a single Olympiad until 2008. Spitz also set new world records for each of the events in which he took the gold. Having thus brought his total Olympic medal count up to 11—he had won two gold, one silver, and one bronze in 1968—Spitz retired from competition. What other historic event marked the 1972 Games? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Did it ever strike you, on such a morning as this, that drowning would be happiness and peace?Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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bare (one's) teeth— To display an angry, violent, and/or threatening reaction to or against something or someone, as does a dog or wolf when threatened. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck (2023)This feast is a commemoration in Malta of the shipwreck of St. Paul on the island in 60 CE, an event told about in the New Testament. When storms drove the ship aground, Paul was welcomed by the "barbarous people" (meaning they were not Greco-Romans). According to legend, he got their attention when a snake bit him on the hand but did him no harm, and he then healed people of diseases. Paul is the patron saint of Malta and snakebite victims. The day is a public holiday, and is observed with family gatherings and religious ceremonies and processions. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: orchestrawind band - A band of wind instruments or a collective term for the wind instruments of an orchestra. More... first chair - The premier musician playing a particular instrument in an orchestra—seated closest to the audience, taking the lead for that instrument's movements, and playing any solos. More... first violin - Leads the orchestra and plays notes in a higher range than second violins; parts for the first violin usually have more of the main tune and are technically more difficult to play. More... orchestra - The earliest senses of orchestra were "the semicircular area for the chorus to dance in an ancient Greek theatre" and the art of dancing itself (from Greek orkheisthai, "to dance"). More... | |