Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, May 10, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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dumbwaiter
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Infinitives vs. Bare InfinitivesAn infinitive is the most basic form of a verb. It is "unmarked" (which means that it is not conjugated for tense or person), and it is preceded by the particle "to." How are infinitives distinct from a similar construction known as "bare infinitives" or the "base forms" of verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The TricksterA common figure in the folklore of many indigenous peoples, the trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, human, or anthropomorphic animal who is often an amoral and comic troublemaker. The trickster's rule-breaking frequently takes the form of tricks or thievery. An enduring archetype, the trickster can be cunning, foolish, or both and often inspires laughter even when considered sacred. In many cultures, the trickster is also a culture hero. Who are some examples of modern-day tricksters? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 J. Edgar Hoover Appointed Director of FBI (1924)As FBI director from 1924 until his death in 1972, Hoover built a more efficient crime-fighting agency and established a centralized fingerprint file, a crime laboratory, and a training school for police. After World War II, he turned to the perceived threat of Communist subversion with a focus that his many critics considered obsessive. It has been verified that he orchestrated systematic harassment of political dissenters and activists, including what celebrated civil-rights leader? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sid Vicious (1957)Born John Simon Ritchie, Sid Vicious was an English punk rock musician who played bass for the Sex Pistols. After the band broke up in 1978, he embarked on a solo career, with his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, acting as his manager. The two—heroin addicts—quickly spun out of control. On October 12, 1978, he awoke to find Spungen dead from a stab wound on the bathroom floor of their hotel room. Though he claimed to have no memory of the event, Vicious was arrested for her murder. Did he kill her? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get (the hell) out of Dodge— To leave or depart from a place, especially quickly or with marked urgency. A reference to Dodge City, Kansas, the clichéd setting of cowboy and western films from the early to mid-1900s. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Golden Spike Anniversary (2023)This reenactment of the completion of America's transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, has been held since 1952. Reproductions of the Central Pacific's "Jupiter" and Union Pacific's "119" meet at the site of the ceremony. Then, the Golden Spike and three other spikes are tapped into a special railroad tie; at 12:47 PM, an ordinary iron "last spike" is driven into the last tie, and the message "D-O-N-E" is sent by ham radio to the California State Railway Museum in Sacramento. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: standscircumstance - Literally "that which stands around (something)." More... cost - Something that costs a particular amount literally "stands at or with" that price, from Latin constare, "to be settled or fixed, stand at a price, cost." More... stem - The stem of a tree is etymologically the upright part, the part that "stands" up, from its Germanic base sta-, "stand." More... wing it - Comes from theatrical jargon, referring to the hurried study of lines by an understudy in the wings, or to the help given by a prompter who stands in the wings of a theater. More... | |