Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, January 1, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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attrition
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adjectival Prepositional PhrasesWhen a prepositional phrase modifies a noun, pronoun, gerund, or noun phrase (all of which function grammatically as nouns), it is considered to function as an adjective within the sentence. We call these "adjectival prepositional phrases," or sometimes just "adjective prepositional phrases." Where do they always appear in relation to the noun they are modifying? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Trepov IncidentIn July 1877, a Russian political prisoner refused to remove his cap in the presence of St. Petersburg governor Theodore Trepov, a colonel known for violently suppressing rebellions. In retaliation, Trepov ordered that the man be flogged, which outraged Vera Zasulich, a fellow prisoner allied with a revolutionary group. In January 1888, Zasulich wounded Trepov with a revolver shot. In the trial that followed, a sympathetic jury found Zasulich not guilty. What happened to her? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Takes Effect (1994)Signed by Canada, Mexico, and the US, NAFTA created the world's largest free-trade area. The agreement immediately lifted tariffs on the majority of goods produced by the signatory nations, and it called for the gradual elimination of most of the remaining barriers to cross-border investment and to the movement of goods and services among the three countries. Critics claim that NAFTA has led to job loss in the US due to the prevalence of maquiladoras, which are what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Alfred Stieglitz (1864)Stieglitz was the first art photographer in the US. More than any other American, he compelled the recognition of photography as a fine art. After editing a series of photography magazines, he established the famous gallery "291" in New York City. The gallery soon broadened its scope from fine-art photography and introduced to the US works by members of the modern French art movement, including Cézanne and Picasso. It also exhibited the works of what American artist whom Stieglitz later married? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 A man will tell you that he has worked in a mine for forty years unhurt by an accident as a reason why he should apprehend no danger, though the roof is beginning to sink.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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look askance upon (someone or something)— To view or regard something in a disapproving or distrustful manner. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Cuba Liberation Day (2025)This national public holiday commemorates the overthrow of the military government of Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973) led by Fidel Castro (b. 1926) that succeeded on January 1, 1959. July 26 is National Day, another public holiday marking the beginning of the revolution Castro led in 1953. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: umbrellaumbrella - Etymologically, it is a "little shadow." More... parapluie - A French word for umbrella, derived from Latin pluvia, "rain." More... bumbershoot - Another word for umbrella, formed by combining an alteration of the word umbrella and an alteration of the word parachute. More... nuclear umbrella - A protective status in which a nuclear state promises to use its arsenal to defend an ally without nuclear capabilities. More... | |