Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, January 27, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using the Past Perfect Continuous for Interrupted ActionsThe most common use of the past perfect continuous tense is to describe an action that was in progress in the past before another past action or event occurred. Can you identify the past perfect continuous in the following sentence? "I had been teaching English in Tokyo when the earthquake hit." More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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| This Day in History | |
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 National Geographic Society Founded (1888)The National Geographic Society is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. It was founded in 1888 by a small group of eminent explorers and scientists and, by the turn of the 21st century, boasted approximately nine million members. It has supported more than 7,000 major scientific projects and expeditions, including those of the Leakey family, Jacques Cousteau, and Jane Goodall. What popular traveling exhibits has it sponsored? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Donna Reed (1921)Reed was an American film and television actress. In 1946, she starred in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, playing Mary Bailey—the wife of James Stewart's character, George Bailey. She went on to win the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in From Here to Eternity and later received a Golden Globe for Best Female TV Star for her performance as Donna Stone in The Donna Reed Show. Why did Reed once sue the producers of the TV show Dallas? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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| Idiom of the Day | |
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lower the bar— To lower the standards of quality that are expected of or required for something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Gasparilla Pirate Festival (2018)A 164-foot reproduction pirate ship sails up Florida's Tampa Bay, and about 500 costumed pirates lower themselves over the side and "capture" the city of Tampa, raising the pirate flag over city hall. Thus begins the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, one of the nation's largest and best-attended celebrations. The mock invasion is followed by a three-hour victory parade featuring members of a men's club known as Ye Mystic Krewe. The festival is named for José Gaspar, an 18th-century Spanish pirate who terrorized the Florida coast from around 1783 until his death in 1821. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: soreangry - Describing a wound or sore that is red and inflamed. More... merry-gall - A sore produced by chafing. More... sore - As a noun, it first meant generally "physical pain and suffering." More... chafe, chaff - To chafe means to rub until sore or worn; to chaff means to tease good-naturedly. More... | |