Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, February 22, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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benignity
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using "If Only" Instead of "Wish"To express a desire that is more fanciful, unrealistic, or that we consider to be ideal, we can use "if only" instead of "I wish" to add more emphasis to the desire. In this construction, what happens to the subjunctive verb? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 StraboStrabo was a 1st-century Greek geographer, historian, and philosopher. Almost all of his works on ancient history have been lost, but his Geographica, published circa 14 CE, has survived. A practical guide to the world at that time, it contains historical material, maps, and rich descriptions of cultures that have since vanished. It is the only extant text describing the peoples and places known to Greeks and Romans during the reign of Augustus. How far did Strabo travel for his research? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Securitas Depot Robbery (2006)In an elaborate heist that took place over the course of several hours, the manager of the Securitas bank depot in Kent, England, was abducted along with his family and forced by a gang of masked, armed men to help steal approximately £53 million. In the process, 14 other staff members at the depot were held captive. It was the largest robbery in British history, and dozens of people would eventually be arrested in connection with it. What had previously been the UK's largest cash robbery? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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.png) Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1857)Powell was a British army officer and founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, later the Girl Scouts. He was a hero of the South African War and author of Aids to Scouting, a military textbook. Upon learning that his book was being used to train boys in woodcraft, he wrote Scouting for Boys and established the Boy Scout movement in 1908. In 1910, with his sister and wife, he founded the Girl Guides. What disguise did Powell use while gathering information in war? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Of ambitions, it is less harmful, the ambition to prevail in great things, than that other, to appear in every thing; for that breeds confusion, and mars business.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make matters worse— To make an already bad, unpleasant, or difficult situation even more so. (Sometimes used as an independent clause in the infinitive form: "to make matters worse.") More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Lucia Independence Day (2025)The West Indies island of St. Lucia celebrates its national independence holiday on February 22. On that day in 1979, the country gained full independence from Britain. St. Lucia had been a British Colony since 1814. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pondlake - First meant pool or pond. More... nursery - Can be a pond in which fry are reared. More... tank - May have come from Gujarati tanku, or Marathi tanke, "underground cistern," from Sanskrit tadaga, "pond." More... pond - To pond is to accumulate water in a pond, which is really a small lake. More... | |