Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 8, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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confection
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositive AdjectivesIn simple sentences, attributive adjectives usually occur before the noun they modify, as "black" does in the example, "The black dog is barking." What are "prepositive adjectives"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 PhonofilmPhonofilm was an early system of synchronizing sound with film. It was used in the 1920s as one of the first methods for playing sound with movies, but it never caught on, particularly in the face of competing formats such as Vitaphone and Movietone. The Phonofilm system recorded photographic sound waves directly onto film—parallel to the picture—then translated them back into sound when the film was played. Thanks to Phonofilm, who became the first US president to appear in a non-silent film? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 NASDAQ Stock Market Begins Trading (1971)When the NASDAQ stock exchange began trading in 1971, it was the world's first electronic stock market. Founded in New York by the National Association of Securities Dealers, NASDAQ initially existed as computer bulletin board system that did not yet connect buyers and sellers. Today, it lists more companies and has more trading volume than any other US electronic stock exchange. In 2007, NASDAQ acquired the oldest stock exchange in America for $652 million. Which exchange did NASDAQ buy? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jules Gabriel Verne (1828)Verne was a French novelist credited with originating the modern genre of science fiction. Early on, he was interested in theater and wrote librettos for operas. Later, he drew upon his knowledge of science and geography to write romances of extraordinary journeys, which quickly became very popular. He wrote more than 50 books in his lifetime, including A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Around the World in Eighty Days. One of his books explores a five-week journey by what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make a hole in (something)— To take, use up, or deplete a large amount of money available in something, such as a budget, one's wallet, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Yaya Matsuri (2025)The Yaya Matsuri, held in Owase, Japan, during the first five days in February, features mikoshi (portable shrines) carried through the streets by groups of young men who meet and deliberately crash into each other. The festival takes its name from their shouts—"Yaya! Yaya!"—as they run into one another. Several special events, including dances, are held during the five-day festival. On the last night, there is a ceremony at the Owase Shrine to determine who will participate in the festival the next year. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: reflectionepiphonema - An exclamatory sentence or reflection summing up a discourse. More... rainbow - Comes from Old Norse regnbogi (becoming Old English renboga, ren, "rain," and boga, "bend, bow") and is a bow or arch of the colors of the prism that is formed in the sky opposite to the sun by the reflection, double refraction, and dispersion of the sun's rays in falling drops of rain. More... sheet lightning - Appears as a broad sheetlike illumination of parts of a thundercloud, caused by the reflection of a lightning flash. More... | |