Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, February 19, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pettifog
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Gradable AdverbsWe can only make comparisons using "gradable adverbs," meaning adverbs that are able to move up and down on a scale of intensity. The majority of adverbs are gradable. As with comparative adjectives, we can state differences in scale by using what words and phrases before the comparative adverb? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Caspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is actually an inland salt lake located between Europe and Asia. It borders Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran. With an area of 149,200 sq mi (386,400 sq km), it is the largest inland body of water in the world. It receives many rivers but has no outlet and was an important part of the Mongol-Baltic trade route in the premodern era. Today, it is a major source of beluga caviar and petroleum. What other names has the Caspian Sea been called throughout history? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Former US Vice President Aaron Burr Arrested for Treason (1807)Nearly three years after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, former US Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested on unrelated charges of treason. Though the exact details of his plan were a mystery even then, he was accused of plotting to establish an independent country of his own, possibly in the American Southwest. He was treated well while imprisoned at Fort Stoddert and was eventually acquitted, but his political career was destroyed. Which of his co-conspirators turned on him? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 André Breton (1896)Breton was a French writer, critic, and editor. In 1919, he helped found the Dadaist review Littérature. Influenced by psychiatry and the Symbolist movement, he wrote poetry using the automatic-writing technique. In 1924, his Manifeste du surréalisme—Surrealist Manifesto—provided a definition of Surrealism as "pure psychic automatism." In 1938, he founded the Fédération de l'Art Revolutionnaire Indépendant in Mexico with what one-time commander of the Red Army? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Exciting literature after supper is not the best digestive.Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a bridge too far— An act or plan whose ambition overreaches its capability, resulting in or potentially leading to difficulty or failure. Taken from the 1974 book A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan, which details the Allies' disastrous attempts to capture German-controlled bridges in the Netherlands during World War II. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin (2023)On February 19, 1942, Japanese bomber and fighter planes conducted a devastating air raid on the town of Darwin, the capital city of Australia's Northern Territory. As a tribute to honor the dead and those who defended Darwin, an annual commemoration is held in Bicentennial Park by the Cenotaph, a monument to those slain in World War I. At 9:58, the exact time the attack began, a World War II air raid siren sounds. During some observances, Australian regiments will reenact the attack: ground units fire their guns, and fighter planes perform fly-bys over the memorial site. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: incapableimpassible, impassable - Impassible is incapable of feeling or suffering; impassable is not capable of being passed. More... impregnable - Means "incapable of being taken by force" (from French prendre, "seize"). More... indefatigable - Means "incapable of being wearied." More... inimitable - Means "unique; incapable of being imitated." More... | |