Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, December 12, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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large-minded
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Personal Pronouns and Subjective CaseAlthough the English language has largely discarded its case system, personal pronouns are one part of English in which the case system is still active. When a personal pronoun is in the subjective case, what is it acting as in the sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The OrmulumWritten in about 1180 by an Augustinian canon of Lincolnshire named Ormin, the Ormulum is a collection of homilies on the Gospels consisting of almost 19,000 lines of Middle English verse. Because Ormin uses his own system of spelling to indicate the proper pronunciation of his words, the Ormulum is invaluable to philologists studying Middle English phonology and tracing the development of English through the Norman conquests. Who is Walter, mentioned in the work’s dedication? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Kenya Gains Independence from the United Kingdom (1963)European settlers began establishing themselves as large-scale farmers in the Kenyan highlands in 1903, taking lands from local tribes like the Kikuyu and Masai. In 1920, the British designated the interior of the region Kenya Colony and a coastal strip the Protectorate of Kenya. Africans began protesting their inferior status, and the Kikuyu staged an armed revolt in the 1950s. Britain eventually put down the rebellion, but Kenya gained its independence soon after. Who was its first president? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Edvard Munch (1863)Best known as the painter of The Scream, Munch was a Norwegian artist and an important forerunner of expressionistic art. His early life was marked by the deaths of his mother and favorite sister, and he said about his father: "From him I inherited the seeds of madness." Aestheticizing his trauma, Munch visually explored primal themes like death, sex, and fear. Reaction to his stark and sometimes fearsome images caused his first major exhibition to be closed. How did he feel about this? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties.Agatha Christie (1890-1976) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a living soul— A person (who is alive). (Often used in the negative to mean "nobody.") More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Spyridon Day (2024)St. Spyridon is the patron saint of Corfu, Zakynthos, and Kephalonia, located off the western coast of Greece. He supposedly attended the Nicene Council (325) and defended the Apostolic faith against the Arians. After his death, his relics were brought from Cyprus to Constantinople and then to Corfu in 1456. Every year a sacred relic of the saint, dressed in costly vestments, is carried through the streets on his feast day. Colorful folk festivities complete the day-long celebration. This day is celebrated on December 14 in the Roman Catholic Church. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tobaccoblend - A combination of different types or grades of fabric, spirits, tea, tobacco, etc. More... tabac - A color, from the French for tobacco. More... cud, quid - The etymological base of cud appears to be "glutinous substance"; quid—"piece of tobacco for chewing"—is a variant of cud. More... petunia - It is related to the tobacco plant, hence its name, from Portuguese petum, "tobacco." More... | |