Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, December 20, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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phylactery
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Describing a Future Fact with the Future Simple TenseThe future simple tense can be used in a few different ways to describe things that have not happened yet. What is the verb in future simple tense in the following sentence? "I will drive to work tomorrow, if you want a ride." More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Ganges RiverSacred to Hindus, the 1,560-mile (2,510-km) Ganges River in northern India rises from the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas and empties into the Bay of Bengal after branching into many distributaries. Although the river is highly polluted due to its proximity to major population centers, a rare species of freshwater dolphin and a critically endangered type of shark live in its waters, and its fertile plain supports many crops. About how many people are thought to live in the Ganges basin? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 South Carolina Becomes the First State to Secede from the US (1860)In the 1830s, South Carolina residents, frustrated by agricultural tariffs, broached the possibility of secession. Tariff reform appeased them for some time, but following the election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union. The state's governor immediately demanded all federal property within the state, including Fort Sumter. The firing on Sumter by Confederate batteries in 1861 precipitated the Civil War. When was the US flag raised over Fort Sumter again? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Branch Wesley Rickey (1881)Rickey was an American baseball executive. In 1919, he devised baseball's farm system of using minor-league teams to train major-league players. In 1945, after he took over the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied convention and broke a long-standing race barrier by hiring Jackie Robinson, the first black player in the major leagues. A deeply religious man, the "Mahatma"—as Rickey was popularly known—never played, attended, or managed games on Sundays. What protective gear did he introduce to baseball? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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the short and the long of it— The essential or most important point being made; the plain truth of the matter. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Posadas (2024)This nine-day Christmas celebration in Mexico commemorates the journey Mary and Joseph (the parents of Jesus) took to Bethlehem. Reenacting their search for shelter (posada in Spanish) in which Jesus might be born, a group of "pilgrims" will knock on someone's door and ask the owner to let them in. The master of the house finally invites them to enter and the Posadas party begins. The children are blindfolded and given a chance to break the piñata by swinging at it with a stick. The posadas are repeated for nine evenings, the last occurring on Christmas Eve. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: strawberriesstrawberry friend - A freeloader, one who visits only when the strawberries are ready for picking. More... small fruits - Currants, raspberries, strawberries, etc. More... soft fruit - Fruit that grows on bushes, such as berries, strawberries and currants, as contrasted with top fruit. More... strawberry - Got its name because the plant "strews" its runners along the ground; its seeds are actually individual fruits and it is termed an aggregate fruit. More... | |