Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, December 26, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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prate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Subjunctive MoodThe subjunctive mood refers to verbs that are used to describe hypothetical or non-real actions, events, or situations. Verbs do not have different forms to express the subjunctive mood in English. What is done to them to convey the meaning we wish to achieve? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Grand Ole OpryThe Grand Ole Opry is a weekly Saturday night country music radio program broadcast live from Nashville, Tennessee. It is the oldest continuous radio program in the US, having been broadcast on WSM since November 28, 1925. The featured performer on the first show was Uncle Jimmy Thompson, a fiddler who was then 77 years old. In 1926, Uncle Dave Macon, a Tennessee banjo player, became the program's first real star. What was the original name of the Opry, and why did it change? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Boston Red Sox Sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees (1919)Between 1914 and 1919, Ruth compiled an outstanding pitching record, but because pitchers do not play in every game, he was shifted to the outfield so that his powerful hitting could be used consistently. The following season, he was sold to the New York Yankees, and his batting feats and public personality helped salvage baseball's popularity, which had been damaged by the Black Sox scandal. According to legend, Ruth was sold by the owner of the Red Sox in order to finance what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 George Dewey (1837)Dewey was an American admiral and a hero of the Battle of Manila. He graduated from the US Naval Academy and served with Union naval forces in the American Civil War. In the Spanish-American War (1898), his Asiatic Squadron sailed to the Philippines and defeated the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay, destroying eight Spanish ships in six hours and suffering only one American fatality. His victory led to the US acquisition of the Philippines. What rank did Congress create for him in 1899? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I shall not die of a cold ... I shall die of having lived.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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long pig— obsolete Human flesh when eaten as food by cannibals. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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_in_Dingle,_Co_Kerry.jpg) St. Stephen's Day (Ireland) (2024)On this day in c. 35, St. Stephen became the first Christian martyr. He was denounced as a blasphemer by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council in ancient Palestine, and stoned to death. In many countries, St. Stephen's Day is celebrated as an extra Christmas holiday. In Ireland, boys with blackened faces carrying a paper wren go about begging and "hunting the wren." The hunting of the wren is most likely a carryover from an old belief that the robin, symbolizing the New Year, killed the wren, symbolizing the Old, at the turning of the year. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: standscircumstance - Literally "that which stands around (something)." More... cost - Something that costs a particular amount literally "stands at or with" that price, from Latin constare, "to be settled or fixed, stand at a price, cost." More... stem - The stem of a tree is etymologically the upright part, the part that "stands" up, from its Germanic base sta-, "stand." More... wing it - Comes from theatrical jargon, referring to the hurried study of lines by an understudy in the wings, or to the help given by a prompter who stands in the wings of a theater. More... | |