Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, October 7, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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wailful
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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AdverbialsSingle-word adverbs, adverbial phrases, and adverbial clauses are sometimes grouped together under the umbrella term "adverbials," which simply means any word or group of words used as an adverb in a sentence. However, because the term is so broad in meaning, it is very common to refer to any adverbial element with what term? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Bethlem Royal HospitalBethlem Royal Hospital is the oldest institution for the care and confinement of the mentally ill in England and one of the oldest in Europe. First founded as a priory in 1247, the building was converted to a hospital around 1400. A distortion of the hospital's name gave rise to the word "bedlam," which was once used as a generic term for a psychiatric hospital and has since been applied to any scene of turmoil and confusion. What notable patients have been housed at Bethlem Royal Hospital? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 William II Becomes King of the Netherlands (1840)William served in the Peninsular War, was wounded at Waterloo, and led the Dutch army in the Belgian revolution after his father failed to approve his conciliation efforts. Called to the throne upon his father's abdication in 1840, William was immediately confronted with a financial crisis, which was solved by raising a "voluntary loan" among the people. A conservative leader, he resisted constitutional revision until the revolutionary spirit of 1848 induced him to grant what desired reforms? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Caesar Rodney (1728)Rodney was a key American Revolutionary leader. As a member of the Continental Congress, when he heard of the deadlock on the vote for independence, he rode 80 miles through a thunderstorm to arrive in Philadelphia "in his boots and spurs" on July 2, 1776—just in time to cast the decisive vote in favor of independence. The wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved two days later, and Rodney became a signatory on August 2. Soon after, he was elected president of what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Virtue never has been as respectable as money.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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dead last— In last place, especially by a wide margin, as for a race or other competition. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 World Space Week (2019)In 1999 the United Nations designated October 4 through October 10 as World Space Week. The week celebrates the contributions that space science and technology have made to improving life on Earth. October 4 was chosen to commemorate the former U.S.S.R.'s October 4, 1957, launch of Sputnik, the first manmade satellite in space. October 10 honors the 1967 signing of the U.N. Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: limbsashtanga - Sanskrit for "having eight parts"—referring to the eight limbs or sutras of yoga; ashtanga yoga is also known as power yoga. More... basket case - Originally slang denoting a soldier who had lost all four limbs, thus unable to move independently. More... stretch - Originally meant "lengthening the limbs" or making them stiffer by stretching. More... hurkle, hurple - To hurkle or hurple is to draw one's limbs in and scrunch up the shoulders in reaction to the cold or in a storm. More... | |