Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, June 11, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
blithe
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Personal Pronouns - PersonGrammatical person refers to the perspectives of the personal pronouns used to identify a person in speech and text (e.g. first, second, and third person). What is the generic "you," and when is it used? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Robben IslandRobben Island is a mile-wide island off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. Stone-age people lived there thousands of years ago when sea levels were lower and the area was easily accessible. Starting in the late 17th century, the island was used to isolate lepers and, later, political prisoners such as Nelson Mandela, who was held there from 1964 to 1982. In the 1600s, a ship laden with millions of dollars worth of gold sank off the island's coast. Why has no one recovered the treasure? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 King Alexander I of Serbia Assassinated (1903)Twelve-year-old Alexander Obrenovic became king of Serbia in 1889, when his father, King Milan I, abdicated. Proclaiming himself of age in 1893, he took over the government, abolished the relatively liberal constitution of 1889, and restored the conservative one of 1869. In 1903, after Alexander temporarily suspended the liberal constitution he had granted in 1901 so that he could replace certain government officials, he and his wife were assassinated. Who succeeded him? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847)An English suffragist and social reformer, Fawcett rejected the violent acts of some of her contemporaries in the suffrage movement, believing that the enfranchisement of women could be achieved by peaceful means. Her efforts as president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies from 1897 to 1919 are considered to have been instrumental in earning women over 30 in the UK the right to vote in 1918. Her older sister, Elizabeth, was the first woman licensed to do what in Britain? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I have intentionally omitted so as to leave to others the pleasure of discovery.Rene Descartes (1596-1650) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
home sweet home— An expression of pleasure or relief upon returning to one's home, especially after an extended period away from it. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Trinity Sunday (2017)Trinity Sunday is a day that celebrates the central dogma of Christian theology: that the One God exists as three persons with one substance—as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The idea of a festival in honor of the Trinity was first introduced by Stephen, bishop of Liège, Belgium, in the 10th century. But it wasn't until 1334 that it became a universal observance decreed by Pope John XXII. The day after Trinity is sometimes referred to as Trinity Monday. Tradition has it that St. Patrick of Ireland used a shamrock as a symbol of the "three-in-one," triune God. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: occupationaptronym - A name that fits a person's nature or occupation, like Jane House for a real estate agent. More... mechanical - Predates "machine" in English and has long had certain separate senses, such as "an art, trade, or occupation: concerned with manual work" and "practical as opposed to theoretical." More... specialization, specialty - Specialization refers to the process of becoming specialized; specialty refers to a special pursuit, occupation, or product. More... study - Based on Latin studium, "painstaking application, zeal" (from studere, "to be zealous"), study's earliest uses are surprising: "affection, friendliness," an "occupation or pursuit," and "a state of reverie or abstraction; state of perplexity." More... | |