Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, February 1, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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sedulous
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Middle VoiceThe so-called middle voice is an approximate type of grammatical voice in which the subject both performs and receives the action expressed by the verb. In other words, the subject acts as both the agent and the receiver (i.e., the direct object) of the action. Why is the middle voice described as a combination of the active and passive voices? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 LidiceDuring World War II, Reinhard Heydrich—deputy chief of the Gestapo—became known as "the Hangman of Europe" for his mass executions. Czechoslovak patriots sought to end to his reign of terror by rolling a grenade under his car in May 1942, and he died of an infection from his injuries a week later. The Gestapo retaliated by demolishing the Czech village of Lidice. They executed its male population of about 200 and deported all women and children to concentration camps. Why did they choose Lidice? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Volume of Oxford English Dictionary Is Published (1884)Though the first volume, A–Ant, was published in 1884, the first complete edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was not published until 1928. Planned as a 10-year project, the 44-year undertaking resulted in a comprehensive, historical dictionary of English—the longest in the world today. It required more than 800 volunteers to compile material, including one who, it was later learned, turned out to be working from an asylum for the criminally insane. Why was he there? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Clark Gable (1901)Despite having such large ears that some doubted he could become a romantic lead, Gable had a rugged masculinity and lighthearted charm that proved popular with audiences. The actor debuted on Broadway in 1928 and went to Hollywood in 1930. There he starred in Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind, and It Happened One Night, for which he won an Academy Award. What tragedy prompted him to give up show business and become a bomber pilot during World War II? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow firm there, firm as weeds among stones.Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have a lump in (one's) throat— To have difficulty speaking as a result of feeling that one is about to cry due to an intense emotional response to something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 National Freedom Day (2025)National Freedom Day commemorates the abolition of slavery in the United States. On that date in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, making slavery illegal. The purpose of the day is to celebrate the freedom from slavery for all people and to acknowledge the importance of freedom and harmony in American society. Freedom Day is not a federal holiday, and a strong drive is underway to adopt June 19, or Juneteenth, as it is known, as the American holiday to celebrate the end of slavery. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: suddenlysquall - A violent wind that comes in suddenly, but does not last long, and is often accompanied by rain or snow. More... amaze, surprise - Amaze once meant "alarm, terrify," but now means "astonish"; surprise means "meet with suddenly or without warning." More... intersilient - Describing something suddenly emerging in the midst of something. More... | |