Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 25, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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resolute
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Linking VerbsLinking verbs are used to describe the state of being of the subject of a clause. Unlike action verbs, they connect the subject to the predicate of the clause without expressing any action. What are linking verbs also known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The MbiraThe mbira, or thumb piano, is an African musical instrument that dates to at least the 16th century. Originally brought to Latin America by African slaves, it is made of a hollow gourd or wooden resonator and has several attached metal or bamboo strips that vibrate when plucked by the player's thumbs or fingers. Some cultures, such as the Shona people of Zimbabwe, use mbira music to communicate with ancestral spirits. What objects are often placed on the soundboard to create a buzzing sound? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 George III Becomes King of Great Britain and Ireland (1760)George III ascended the throne at the age of 22, during the Seven Years' War. The war had put England in financial distress, and George supported raising funds through taxation of the American colonies. This policy proved disastrous for him, as it provoked the American Revolution and led him to be blamed in part for losing the colonies. Later in life, George's mental health declined, and his son acted as regent after 1811. It has been suggested that he suffered from what hereditary disease? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Minnie Pearl (1912)Pearl was an American country comedienne, born Sarah Colley in Centerville, Tennessee. One of the Grand Ole Opry's most iconic performers, she appeared on the show for more than 50 years, performing routines that gently poked fun at rural Southern culture. Outfitted in styleless "down home" dresses and a hat with a price tag that dangled over its brim, she also appeared regularly on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991. On whom was the Minnie Pearl character based? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its office-holders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in default of (something)— Due to the absence or lack of something; through the failure of something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Crispin's Day (2024)According to legend, Crispin and his brother Crispinian traveled from Rome to the French town of Soissons, where they preached and earned a living as shoemakers. The people of Soissons built a church in their honor in the sixth century, and since that time they have been known as the patron saints of shoemakers and other workers in leather. This is also the day on which the French and English armies fought the battle of Agincourt in the middle period of the Hundred Years War (1415). More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: jointfishplate - A type of metal plate used to strengthen a joint (from fish, meaning "mend"). More... seam - Etymologically, a joint made by sewing. More... ankylosis - Stiffness or immobility in a joint. More... arthralgia, arthritis - Arthralgia is pain in a joint, from Greek arthron, "joint," which also gives us the word arthritis. More... | |