Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, April 2, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining ClausesClauses are groups of words that contain both a subject and a predicate. There are two main types of clauses: independent clauses (which can function independently as sentences) and dependent clauses. What do dependent clauses depend on? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 AutogyrosAn autogyro is a type of aircraft characterized by a free-spinning horizontal rotor that turns due to passage of air upward through the blades. Whereas a helicopter achieves lift with powered rotor blades that push air downward, an autogyro's rotor is driven by aerodynamic forces alone. Invented by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva and first flown in 1923, the autogyro gained popularity before it was eclipsed by the more practical helicopter. What is the top speed reached by an autogyro? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 As the World Turns Premieres (1956)Soap operas began in the early 1930s as 15-minute radio episodes and continued in that format when they began appearing on TV in the early 1950s. As the World Turns premiered as the first half-hour TV soap. The show, which primarily focused on two professional families in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois, ran for 54 years and aired nearly 14,000 episodes. For 20 of those years, it was most-watched daytime drama in the US. What interrupted a live broadcast of the show in 1963? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Émile François Zola (1840)Zola was the founder of French naturalism, a literary school that maintained that novel-writing should be scientific, appraising reality in terms of natural forces such as heredity or environment. Inspired by his readings in sociology and medicine, he applied his theory in a vast series of novels in which the characters are impartially observed and presented in minute, often sordid, detail. Zola also had an ardent zeal for social reform. He died in his sleep under what suspicious circumstances? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have the mouth of a sailor— To have a tendency or proclivity to use coarse, rude, or vulgar language. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 International Children's Book Day (2025)This day, which is observed by countries all over the world, is held on Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, April 2, because the Danish author's stories have been favorites among children of all nationalities. Celebrations include contests in which children illustrate their favorite books. Every two years the International Board on Books for Young People sponsors the Hans Christian Andersen medals, which are awarded to a children's book author and a children's book illustrator for their contributions to children's literature. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: lapis lazuliazure stone - Another name for the lapis lazuli. More... lapis lazuli - A sky-blue semiprecious stone, it is pronounced lap-us-LAY-zuh-lee. More... sapphire - From Greek sappheiros, "lapis lazuli" or "blue stone." More... ultramarine - First a blue pigment made from lapis lazuli, imported from Asia by sea, so, in Latin, it was ultramarinus, "beyond the seas." More... | |