Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, August 4, 2024)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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sanctimonious
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Conjugations of "Be"Linking verbs are used to describe the state of being of the subject of a clause. The verb "to be" is the most common linking verb. Unique among English verbs, "be" has eight different conjugations. Can you name them all? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Derveni PapyrusThe Derveni Papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving manuscript, is an ancient Greek papyrus scroll dating to approximately 340 BCE. Found in Derveni, in northern Greece, in 1962, the scroll is an allegorical commentary on a poem ascribed to the mythic poet Orpheus which discusses the birth of the gods. It begins with the words "Close the doors, you uninitiated," a famous admonition to secrecy. The text was officially published how many years after its discovery in 1962? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The 4th of August Regime Established in Greece (1936)Political instability coupled with economic unrest undermined the Greek government for much of the 1920s and 30s and finally brought parliament to a standstill in 1936. On August 4 of that year, Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas declared a state of emergency, suspended parliament, and made himself dictator—with the blessing of the king. Though his 4th of August Regime suppressed political opposition, it also carried out beneficial economic and social reforms. What brought the regime to an end? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Raoul Wallenberg (1912)In 1944, as Nazi troops rounded up hundreds of thousands of Jews in Hungary, Wallenberg—a Swedish citizen who had previously worked for a company run by a Hungarian Jew—asked to be posted there as a diplomat. Once there, he worked relentlessly to save tens of thousands of Jews by sheltering them on Swedish property and distributing counterfeit Swedish passports. He was arrested by the Soviets in 1945, and his death while in their custody is shrouded in mystery. What might have happened to him? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions.Jane Austen (1775-1817) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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pull a prank (on someone)— To carry out a trick, deception, or practical joke (against someone). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Dog Days (2025)The Dog Days are known as the hottest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and usually occur in July and early August. In ancient times, the sultry weather in Rome during these months often made people sick, which they blamed on the fact that this was when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose at about the same time as the sun. There are many different ways of calculating which days in any given year are the dog days, but it is impossible to be precise; nowadays it is generally assumed that they fall between July 3 and August 11—slightly later than they occurred in ancient times. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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