Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, January 6, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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round-shouldered
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adjective Phrases: Attributive vs. PredicativeAdjective phrases can either be attributive or predicative. Attributive adjectives occur immediately before or after the noun they modify. What are predicative adjectives? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Japanese Spider CrabThe Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi, is the largest living arthropod in the world. Fully grown, it can reach a leg span of almost 13 ft (4 m), a body size of up to 15 in (37 cm), and a weight of up to 44 lb (20 kg). The crab's natural habitat is on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean around Japan, at depths of several hundred meters. It is believed to have a life expectancy of up to 100 years. Why is catching Japanese spider crabs usually prohibited during springtime? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US President-Elect Survives Train Wreck, Loses Son (1853)Just months before he was inaugurated as the 14th US president, Franklin Pierce, his wife, and his 11-year-old son were in a terrible train wreck in which their car derailed and rolled down an embankment. Pierce and his wife survived but saw their son crushed to death. He was their third child, and the only one to have lived past early childhood. The suddenly childless parents were devastated, and Pierce entered the presidency in mourning. To what did Pierce's wife attribute the train accident? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Richard II of England (1367)Richard II was perhaps the most enigmatic of the English kings, reigning from 1377 to 1399. He inherited the throne as a boy, but his uncle John of Gaunt and other nobles dominated the government, limiting his power. Taking revenge, he banished John's son, Henry, and confiscated his vast Lancastrian estates. Not long after, while Richard was away on an expedition, Henry returned and seized power. Forced to abdicate, Richard was imprisoned and died in captivity. What likely caused his death? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The value of old age depends upon the person who reaches it. To some men of early performance it is useless. To others, who are late to develop, it just enables them to finish the job.Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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look (at something) through rose-colored glasses— To assume a generally optimistic and cheerful attitude (toward something); to focus on the positive aspects (of something). Primarily heard in US. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Maroon Festival (2023)When Jamaica was a Spanish territory in the 16th century, African slaves were brought in to work the plantations. The Spanish eventually left, and the former slaves fled to the mountains. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the island's British inhabitants were often attacked by descendants of these fugitive slaves, who were called Maroons. The annual Maroon Festival on January 6 commemorates the peace treaty with the English and establishment of the town of Accompong. It is celebrated with traditional dancing and singing, feasts and ceremonies, and the blowing of the abeng. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tidebillow - The swell on the ocean produced by the wind, or on a river or estuary by the tide or wind. More... slack water, slack tide - Before any turn of the tide, there is a time of slack water or slack tide. More... happy as a clam - Originally happy-as-a-clam-at-full-tide; it may refer to the fact that when the tide is full, nobody is digging clams. More... tidy - Comes from tide, which in Old English meant "time period"; its original meaning was "timely, opportune." More... | |