Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, January 17, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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ObjectsGrammatical objects are nouns or pronouns that complete the meaning of verbs and prepositions. What is an indirect object? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Border ReiversDuring the Middle Ages, England and Scotland were almost constantly at war. Born out of these conflicts were the border reivers, English and Scottish raiders loyal only to their families or clans. They raided both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border impartially, rustling cattle, stealing household goods, and taking prisoners for ransom. Considered the finest light cavalry in Europe, reivers sometimes hired themselves out as mercenaries or were forced into army service. What was a "Hot Trod"? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US Supreme Court Declares Home VCRs Legal (1984)After Sony introduced the Betamax home video tape recorder in the mid-1970s, Universal Studios sued, alleging that Betamax facilitated copyright infringement by allowing users to make copies of television programs. After an eight-year legal battle, the US Supreme Court ruled that using the new technology to "time-shift" one's television viewing constituted fair use. By then, Betamax had been eclipsed by the VHS format. What later case concerned the "space-shifting" of media? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Anne Brontë (1820)Though often overshadowed by her more famous sisters, Charlotte and Emily, Anne Brontë was a novelist and poet in her own right. She possessed a style distinct from the romanticism of her sisters, and her works—which include Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall—have been praised for their realism and moral force. Like her five older siblings, Anne died of tuberculosis at a fairly young age. After she died, who prevented her controversial second novel from being reprinted? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Opportunities flit by while we sit regretting the chances we have lost, and the happiness that comes to us we heed not, because of the happiness that is gone.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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window-shopping— The act of visiting stores, or looking in their windows, to see what is available without buying anything. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Benjamin Franklin's Birthday (2025)Born in Boston on this day in 1706, Benjamin Franklin helped edit, and was a signer of, the Declaration of Independence. He also helped to frame the Constitution. When he died in 1790 in Philadelphia, he was given the most impressive funeral that city had ever seen: 20,000 people attended. In Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute Science Museum holds a two-day "birthday bash" that often involves people dressing as Franklin. The celebration takes place on the weekend preceding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which is the Monday after January 15. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: highesttop note - The highest in a piece of music or in a singer's vocal range. More... paramount, tantamount - Paramount means "primary, top," and tantamount means "equivalent to, same as"; paramount first meant "highest in jurisdiction." More... prime - Unusual since it can have virtually opposite meanings: "preliminary, basic" or "lowest"—as well as "finest" and "highest." More... supreme - Ultimately from Latin supra, "above," which begat supremus, "highest." More... | |