Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, May 5, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Aspects of the Present TenseThe present tense is combined with four traditional aspects to form the structures that are known as the present simple, the present continuous (or present progressive), the present perfect, and the present perfect continuous. Although these structures are generally taught as individual "tenses" of verbs, what are they are actually? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Box JellyfishFound in waters near Hawaii, Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and many other tropical areas, box jellyfish are named for their somewhat cube-shaped bodies but are best known for the extremely powerful venom possessed by some of their species, including Chironex fleckeri and Carukia barnesi, two of the most venomous creatures in the animal kingdom. Stings from such species are excruciatingly painful and often fatal. What animal eats box jellyfish and is unaffected by the venom? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First American in Space (1961)In 1961, 23 days after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to be launched into space. Shepard's suborbital flight—part of the US space program Project Mercury—reached a height of 115 miles (185 km). He performed several maneuvers of his capsule, Freedom 7, but returned after only a 15-minute flight. Although Gagarin was the first human in space, Shepard was the first to return in what way? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Elizabeth Cochrane, AKA Nellie Bly (1864)Cochrane was a pioneering female journalist who wrote under the pseudonym Nellie Bly. She wrote investigative articles on topics such as the plight of female factory workers, and as a young woman worked as a foreign correspondent in Mexico. She later feigned insanity to gain access to an asylum and wrote an exposé that prompted much-needed reforms. In 1889, she circumnavigated the globe in 72 days, besting the fictional feat conceived by Jules Verne. What famous figure did she meet on the way? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh. They do not know how mean it makes you. It exposes you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be (of) no use to man or beast— To be completely useless; to serve no purpose; to be unsuitable to anyone or anything. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Ethiopia Patriots' Victory Day (2025)Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia made a grand entrance into the capital city, Addis Ababa, on May 5, 1941, to mark the end of the Italian occupation. Exactly five years earlier, the Italians had initiated a period of occupation. However, the intervention of British forces and other Allies, as well as the heroics of Ethiopian patriots, helped preserve Ethiopia's independence. In Addis Ababa, government leaders, diplomats, patriot associations, and city residents turn out to honor veterans who fought in the resistance movement between 1935 and 1941. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: strivecompete - Comes from Latin competere, "come together," but in later Latin, it developed the sense "strive together," which was the basis for the English term. More... repugn, repugnant - Repugn means "to strive against" or "be contradictory or inconsistent," giving us repugnant. More... strive - Seems to be from Old French estriver, "quarrel, strive." More... win - Its Germanic base gave it its first meaning, "to labor, strive, work." More... | |