Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, February 18, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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arcanum
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the PredicateSentences must always include both a subject and a predicate. The predicate is, essentially, everything in the sentence that follows the subject. It is made up of at least one finite verb. What else can the predicate include? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Ethelred the UnreadyEthelred was about 10 years old when his half-brother, the King of England, was murdered—possibly by Ethelred's advisors. He took the throne in 978 CE and reigned for nearly 40 tumultuous years. Danes began attacking the coast of England while he was still a teen. He failed to mount an organized defense against them, and his later massacre of a Danish settlement provoked more attacks. Though often translated as "unready," Ethelred's epithet, "Unraed," may have in fact been a pun meaning what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Race Car Driver Dale Earnhardt Dies in Daytona 500 Crash (2001)Earnhardt was a seven-time champion and one of NASCAR's most successful drivers when he was killed at the 2001 Daytona 500 race. In the final lap, his car veered abruptly down the track and made contact with two others before hitting a concrete retaining wall head-on at about 160 mph (258 km/h). He was killed instantly. In the wake of the tragedy, NASCAR launched an intensive safety campaign and the Florida Legislature passed the Earnhardt Family Protection Act changing what laws? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Yoko Ono (1933)Ono is a Japanese artist, musician, author, and peace activist best known for her marriage to John Lennon of the Beatles. She was raised in Japan and the US, where she started exploring conceptual and performance art. A member of the Fluxus movement, Ono developed a reputation as an avant-garde filmmaker, conceptual artist, performance artist, and experimental musician. Her 1964 Cut Piece, a commentary on identity, gender issues, suffering, and loneliness, invited the audience to do what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The fortunes of war more than any other are liable to frequent fluctuations.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make ground— To become more successful, popular, important, or accepted. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Gambia Independence Day (2025)Gambia gained independence from Britain on February 18, 1965, and became a constitutional monarchy. On that day, people gathered in Bathurst for music, dancing, and the replacement of the Union Jack with the Gambian flag. A public vote in 1970 made the Republic of the Gambia a British Commonwealth. Independence Day is a national holiday in Gambia. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: laylay - As in layperson, it derives from Greek laikos, "of the people"—as opposed to clerics. More... nest egg - Poultry farmers formerly placed a porcelain or other fake egg in a hen's nest to encourage it to lay more eggs—from this came nest egg, money saved to encourage the making of more. More... lay, lie - To lay is to place something; to lie is to recline. More... | |