Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, July 5, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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high-spirited
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming the Second ConditionalWe use the second conditional to speak about a hypothetical situation or outcome resulting from the condition. Unlike the first conditional, we use the second conditional to talk about things that cannot or are unlikely to happen. How do we create the second conditional? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Book of ThelThe Book of Thel is an illustrated poem published by English author and illustrator William Blake around 1789. It tells the story of a young woman—Thel—who seeks to understand why all things must die. She poses this question to a lily, a cloud, a worm, and a clod of clay. The clod invites Thel to visit the underworld, where she hears questions even more troubling than her own and flees in terror. The relatively short poem is rife with allegory. What might the character of Thel represent? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Battle of Wagram Begins (1809)The two-day Battle of Wagram signaled the end of the 1809 War of the Fifth Coalition between the kingdoms of Austria and France. Due to the battle's then-unprecedented use of artillery, both sides suffered tens of thousands of casualties. The Austrians were broken by the battle. Napoleon's victory forced Archduke Charles of Austria to accept unfavorable armistice conditions, stripping Austria of land and subjects. The battle might have ended differently if who had shown up in time? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 David Glasgow Farragut (1801)Adopted by a naval officer as a child, Farragut began his naval career as a midshipman at age nine. During the US Civil War, he ran his ships past Confederate forts to capture New Orleans. The victory earned him a prominent place in the Union navy. He was again promoted in 1864, after leading a successful assault on a heavily mined Confederate port. Famously, upon losing a ship during the attack, he allegedly cried out "Damn the torpedoes–full speed ahead!" What naval rank was created for him? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Be still my heart; thou hast known worse than this.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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on the fiddle— Engaged in deceitful, fraudulent, or dishonest means of obtaining money. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tynwald Ceremony (2024)The Isle of Man, located off the coast of England in the Irish Sea, was once the property of the Vikings. It was here that they established their custom of holding an open-air court for the settling of disputes and the passing of laws. Today, the Tynwald Ceremony—whose name comes from the Norse Thing vollr, meaning a fenced open parliament—is held at St. John's on Tynwald Hill on July 5, when the chief justice reads a brief summary of every bill that has been passed during the year—first in English, and then in Manx, the old language of the island. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pullingpull out all the stops - Refers to the knobs and levers on a church organ that control the pipes; pulling out all the stops will result in the full range of pitch and maximum volume. More... track - Borrowed from Old French trac, from Middle Dutch trek, "pulling," or trekken, "pull." More... traction, tractor - Traction and tractor trace back to Latin tractus, "drawing, pulling," and trahere, "draw, pull." More... tractive - Refers to power exerted in pulling, especially by a machine. More... | |