Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, October 5, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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catkin
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using the Present Continuous Tense with "Always"There is a special usage when the adverb "always" is used between "be" and the present participle. Rather than literally meaning that the action always happens (as you might expect), it instead means that that action very often happens. What else does this construction convey? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Thomas MalthusMalthus was an English economist, sociologist, and demographer. He is best known for his 1798 pamphlet An Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he theorizes that poverty is an unavoidable consequence of population growth. He explained that populations grow at a geometric rate, while the means of subsistence expands arithmetically; thus, war, famine, and disease are necessary checks on population. In later editions, what did Mathus add as a fourth check on population? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus Airs on BBC (1969)A highly influential British sketch comedy show, Monty Python's Flying Circus ran until 1974 and subsequently spawned four movies and several live shows. With scenes such as "The Dead Parrot Sketch" and "The Spanish Inquisition," the innovative, disjointed, non-traditional show became a cult favorite noted for its surreal, sarcastic, innuendo-laden humor. Interspersed throughout the show were Terry Gilliam's iconic animations, including a giant, crushing foot taken from what painting? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Larry Fine (1902)Fine was just a toddler when his left arm was badly burned by acid used in his father's Philadelphia jewelry store. To help strengthen his damaged arm, Fine learned to play violin, which led him to a career in vaudeville. In the 1920s, he joined the comedy act that would become The Three Stooges, catapulting him—and his trademark unruly hair—to fame in several feature films and hundreds of shorts. As a young man, what else did he do to strengthen his arm until his father made him stop? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 For whatever is truly wondrous and fearful in man, never yet was put into words or books.Herman Melville (1819-1891) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a people person— Someone who is particularly gregarious, affable, or outgoing; someone with great interpersonal communication skills. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Portugal Republic Day (2025)This national holiday commemorates the establishment of the Portuguese Republic on this day in 1910, which ended over two centuries of the monarchical rule of the Portuguese royal family, the House of Braganca. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: modecomportment, deportment - Deportment adds the sense of action or activity to a mode of conduct or behavior; comportment, "behavior or bearing," does not have this. More... dictionary - Based on Latin dictio(n-), "mode of expression" or "word," then dictionarius, "a repertory of words or phrases." More... diet - Comes from Greek diaita, "a way of life, mode of living." More... mode - Originally a tune or air and later a scheme of sounds. More... | |