Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, December 20, 2024)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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ideate
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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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 Jim IgnatowskiRanked 32nd on TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time," Jim Ignatowski was a character played by Christopher Lloyd in the 1970s television series Taxi. A burned-out product of 1960s counterculture, Ignatowski lived in a world of his own, often exhibiting "spaced-out" behavior as a result of his extensive drug use. However, Lloyd was able to add much humanity to what could have been a one-dimensional role. What did Ignatowski do when he inherited $3 million? 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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 There is but an inch of difference between the cushioned chamber and the padded cell.Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| 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... | |