Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, May 11, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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incumbency
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives that describe the subject of the clause will follow a linking verb. In such cases, they are known as subject complements. When predicative adjectives describe the direct object of non-linking verbs, what are they called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Walpurgis NightCelebrated in parts of Europe on April 30 or May 1, Walpurgis Night is a holiday influenced by both Pagan and Christian traditions. It is named after Saint Walpurga, whose holy day coincides with various Pagan spring customs, including the commemoration of the Norse god Odin's self-sacrificing retrieval of the knowledge of the runes. On this night, the boundary between the living and dead is allegedly weakened. Who is said to gather in Germany's Harz mountains on Walpurgis Night? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Dust Bowl: Dust Storm Hits Great Plains (1934)In the 1930s, severe drought conditions in the Great Plains region of the US and decades of farming without crop rotation led to a series of devastating dust storms. The storms, called "dusters" or "black blizzards," caused widespread ecological and agricultural damage. In May 1934, one of the worst storms to hit the Dust Bowl blew massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil all the way to the East Coast and dumped the equivalent of how many pounds of debris on Chicago, Illinois? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Frederick Russell Burnham (1861)Burnham was an American adventurer whose outdoorsmanship helped inspire the founding of the international scout movement. He was born on an Indian reservation to a missionary family and became a horseback messenger for Western Union Telegraph Company at age 13 and soon after a scout and tracker. After two decades of ranging in the Southwest and Mexico, he moved to Africa to become the British army's chief of scouts during the Boer War. His tracking skills earned him what nickname in Africa? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 A boy's love comes from a full heart; a man's is more often the result of a full stomach. Indeed, a man's sluggish current may not be called love, compared with the rushing fountain that wells up when a boy's heart is struck with the heavenly rod.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get in touch (with someone)— To initiate or establish contact or communication with someone More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Frost Saints' Days (2023)These three consecutive days in May mark the feasts of St. Mammertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatus. In the wine-growing districts of France, a severe cold spell occasionally strikes at this time of year, inflicting serious damage on the grapevines; some in rural France have believed that it is the result of their having offended one of the three saints, who for this reason are called the "frost saints." French farmers have been known to show their displeasure over a cold snap at this time of year by flogging the statues and defacing the pictures of Mammertus, Pancras, and Servatus. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: scentbreath - From an Old English word meaning "scent, smell." More... flair - Comes from Latin fragrare, "smell sweet," and was first the ability to detect the "essence" or "scent" of something and know how to act accordingly. More... red herring - Something intended to be misleading or distracting, so named from the practice of using the scent of red herring in training hounds. More... relish - First meant "odor, scent," then "taste, flavor." More... | |