Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, August 13, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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rough-cut
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining MoodGrammatical mood refers to the way in which a verb is used to express certain meaning by the speaker or writer. In linguistics, moods are broken down into two main categories: realis moods (expressing what is real or true) and irrealis moods, which express what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Lambton WormOne of northeast England's most famous fairy tales, the story of the Lambton Worm opens with a youth named John Lambton skipping church to go fishing, whereupon he catches a strange eel-like creature and drops it down a well. Lambton eventually goes on to join the Crusades and returns years later to find that the worm has become a giant beast. A witch tells him how to defeat the creature but warns him that he must kill the first living thing he sees after he does so. How does the story end? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Circus Acrobat Otto Witte Crowned King of Albania? (1913)Witte was a German citizen and circus acrobat who claimed to have impersonated his way into being crowned King of Albania in 1913—by some accounts, on August 13. According to Witte, he enjoyed the royal harem and reigned for several days before being discovered as an impostor. Though he was likely lying, his story was picked up by several publications, including Time magazine. What novel may have given Witte the idea for his story, and what other novel was then based on Witte? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Frederick Sanger (1918)After earning his PhD at Cambridge University in 1943, British biochemist Frederick Sanger decided to continue conducting his research at his alma mater. He remained there for the entirety of his four-decade career, making discoveries about the structure of proteins, particularly insulin, as well as DNA sequencing that would earn him not one but two Nobel prizes. He was only the fourth person in history to have earned this distinction. Who are the other three two-time Nobel laureates? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be running on fumes— To be continuing to operate with no or very little enthusiasm, energy, or resources left. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Nemoralia (2025)The Nemoralia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the goddess Diana held at Nemi, in the territory of Aricia about 16 miles southeast of Rome. Diana was worshipped throughout Rome and Latium (now western Italy) on August 13, the day on which her temple on the Aventine Hill had been dedicated by Servius Tullius. But her most famous cult was in Aricia, where the Nemoralia was observed to protect the vines and the fruit trees. It is still common in some parts of the Orthodox Christian Church for worshippers to make offerings of new wheat and cakes to the Theotokos on that day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: presencehoodoo - A person who practices voodoo; the word also describes a person or thing whose presence is supposed to bring bad luck. More... al fresco - Implies the presence of some nearby structure (one does not hike al fresco). More... pyrosis - Heartburn is actually pyrosis, caused by the presence of gastric secretions, called reflux, in the lower esophagus. More... evince - To indicate, to reveal the presence of a quality or feeling. More... | |