Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, November 20, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nonce
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
First ConditionalFirst conditional sentences contain a conditional verb in the simple present tense in the "if clause," and a future tense verb preceded by the auxiliary verb "will" in the main clause. What are first conditional sentences used to explain? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Iranian Space AgencyThe Iranian government established the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) in 2003. Just two years later, it declared that it would allocate $500 million to the ISA. Though Western nations have expressed concern, fearing that Iran's rapid advancement in space technology will improve its military capabilities, the ISA's most noteworthy space venture to date was launching a rocket containing living organisms—a rodent, two turtles, and several worms—into space in 2010. Did the animals survive the trip? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Whaling Ship Essex Rammed by Whale (1820)In 1819, the whaling ship Essex left Massachusetts for the South Pacific to hunt sperm whales. On November 20, 1820, in an incident that would inspire Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, the Essex was rammed multiple times by a sperm whale and sank 2,000 miles (3,700 km) off the coast of South America. The crew took three small boats to a nearby island, but many soon set out again. Conditions in the boats worsened, and the sailors had to resort to cannibalism. How many survived? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Selma Lagerlöf (1858)Lagerlöf was a Swedish author who is best known for her children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils. While working as a teacher, Lagerlöf got her big break as a writer when chapters of her first novel, Gösta Berling's Saga, won first prize in a literary contest. Lagerlöf rooted her work in legend in a reaction against contemporary Swedish realism. In 1909, she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. What did she do with her medal during World War II? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Before I do anything I feel that I have choice, and that influences what I do; but afterwards, when the thing is done, I believe that it was inevitable from all eternity.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
lead nowhere— To ultimately yield or achieve no useful, beneficial, or successful result or outcome. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Africa Industrialization Day (2024)In 1989 the United Nations designated November 20 as Africa Industrialization Day. Observances center around mustering international support for the industrialization of Africa. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: sickanointing of the sick - The Catholic sacrament in which a priest anoints a dying person with oil and prays for salvation. More... decumbiture - The act of going to bed when sick. More... ill - Originally meant not "sick" but "bad," and was borrowed from Old Norse illr; the sense of "sick" arrived in the 15th century. More... nauseous, nauseated - Nauseous ("sickening") is an adjective describing something that causes nausea; the adjective for the feeling ("made sick") is nauseated. More... | |