Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 1, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Types of Prepositional IdiomsPrepositional idioms combine prepositions with verbs, nouns, or phrases to create idiomatic expressions. What two categories can these expressions be divided into? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Oil ReservesA measure of the wealth available to owners and operators of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs, oil reserves are the estimated amounts of oil or gas that can be economically recovered from reservoirs. In the 1970s, an energy crisis precipitated by a spike in oil prices prompted the development of new oil fields in Alaska and the North Sea, boosting the world's reserves from 645.8 billion barrels in 1978 to 1,052.9 billion in 1998. Today, many nations do not reveal data about their reservoirs. Why? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Honeymooners Premiers on CBS (1955)The Honeymooners was a short-lived American sitcom based on sketches by comedian Jackie Gleason. It starred Gleason and Audrey Meadows as a struggling working class couple in New York—a drastic departure from other popular comedies of the era that depicted their characters in comfortable, middle-class, suburban environments. Though The Honeymooners was cancelled after just 39 episodes, it has been aired for decades in syndication. What animated TV series did Gleason's show inspire? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Bonnie Parker (1910)Bonnie Parker was the female half of the notorious Depression-era criminal duo "Bonnie and Clyde." She met Clyde Barrow in 1930 and soon became his lover as well as his partner in crime. In 1932, the pair began a 21-month crime spree—which ended when they were killed in a police ambush—that involved robberies, shootouts, and murders. Their activities were widely publicized, and they soon became America's most famous and romanticized outlaws. How did Bonnie and Clyde allegedly meet? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The music of life would be mute if the chords of memory were snapped asunder.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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(it's) little wonder— It is not at all surprising (that something is the case). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 International Day of Older Persons (2024)The United Nations General Assembly decided to set aside October 1 as International Day for the Elderly in 1990 (later designated as the International Day of Older Persons). By designating a day when governments are supposed to focus on what they can do to provide for the elderly, the U.N. hopes not only to forestall problems related to the aging of the population but to focus attention on the promise that a maturing population holds for social undertakings. The United Nations also set aside the year 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sacksachet - Etymologically, a "little sack"—a small packet of perfumed matter. More... cul-de-sac - Literally French for "bottom of a sack," it also means "situation from which there is no escape"; it can be pluralized as cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac. More... gunny - From Sanskrit goni, "sack," it is the material used for sacks, made from jute or sunn-hemp. More... haversack, knapsack, rucksack - Haversack is from German Haber, "oats," and Sack, "bag, sack"; knapsack is from German knapper, "to bite (food)" and zak, "sack"; rucksack comes from German Rucken, "back," and sack. More... | |