Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, January 1, 2025)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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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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 Harold "Kim" PhilbyInitially a journalist, Philby became a high-ranking member of British intelligence and is believed to have provided the USSR with classified information that caused the deaths of scores of American and British agents. Always in danger of having his cover blown by Soviet defectors, Philby himself defected to the USSR in 1963, after he was exposed as a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring. Philby died in Moscow in 1988. What killed him? 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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 Childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day.John Milton (1608-1674) | |
| 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... | |