Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, March 25, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Comma SplicesA comma splice occurs when we join two independent clauses with a comma. Why can't we use a comma in this situation? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Fashion in the 15th CenturyFashion in 15th-century Europe was characterized by a series of extremes and extravagances. As Europe continued to become more prosperous, the urban middle class, including skilled workers, began to wear more complex clothes that followed the fashions set by the elite, ranging from voluminous gowns—called houppelandes—with sweeping, floor-length sleeves to draped, jeweled, and feathered hats, hoods, and other headdresses. What was the fashion trend known as slashing? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Kills 146 (1911)The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a clothing manufacturer that occupied the top three floors of a 10-story building in New York. In 1911, a small fire flared up in a dustbin on the 8th floor and quickly spread. Tragically, a number of doors had been locked by management to prevent theft, and fire truck ladders only reached the 6th floor. Dozens of workers jumped to their deaths to escape the conflagration, while others burned alive. What sweeping safety reforms were prompted by the disaster? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Saint Catherine of Siena (1347)Born in Siena, Italy, as Caterina Benincasa, Catherine claimed to have mystic visions beginning in early childhood. In 1370, in response to a vision, she began sending letters to prominent figures. She later traveled to Avignon and influenced Pope Gregory XI to end the "Babylonian captivity" of the papacy and return to Rome. Although she never learned to write, she dictated hundreds of letters and some notable mystic works. Catherine is believed to have suffered from what condition? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Let a fool be made serviceable according to his folly.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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more haste, less speed— Acting too quickly and without due diligence, focus, and attention to detail will result in avoidable mistakes and thus require even more time to complete the task satisfactorily. (The logic of the phrase is essentially "too much haste results in less overall speed.") Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Maryland Day (2025)Maryland Day commemorates the landing of the first colonists there in 1634, and the first Roman Catholic Mass they celebrated. Named after Henrietta Maria, the consort of King Charles I of England, Maryland was the first proprietary colony on the American mainland. George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, was appointed by the king as proprietor, and he hoped to establish a refuge for other Catholics who had been persecuted in Anglican England. He was succeeded as head of the colony by his son, Cecilius Calvert, who brought 200 more colonists over from England. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: nourishmentfoster - Comes from the Germanic base for "food" and it originally meant "food, nourishment." More... inanity, inanition - Inanity is intellectual or spiritual emptiness; inanition is the lack of nourishment. More... meat - First meant "food, nourishment"—especially solid food as opposed to drink. More... nourishment - Wine or spirits given medicinally can be called nourishment. More... | |