Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, February 19, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pettifog
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Neuter Personal PronounsPersonal pronouns are only inflected for gender when they are in the third person and singular. However, the third-person singular can also be "neuter." What does that mean? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Caspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is actually an inland salt lake located between Europe and Asia. It borders Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran. With an area of 149,200 sq mi (386,400 sq km), it is the largest inland body of water in the world. It receives many rivers but has no outlet and was an important part of the Mongol-Baltic trade route in the premodern era. Today, it is a major source of beluga caviar and petroleum. What other names has the Caspian Sea been called throughout history? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Thomas Edison Patents the Phonograph (1878)Though his formal schooling was limited to just three months of instruction before he was ten years old, Edison was one of the most prolific inventors of his time. His work in improving telegraph technology—particularly his discovery of a method for recording telegraph messages—led Edison to suspect he could do similar things with sound. Within months, the first working model of his phonograph was ready. Why, according to Edison, was he "taken aback" when his invention worked on the first try? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Amy Tan (1952)Born in Oakland, California, to Chinese immigrants, Tan is an award-winning author whose novels focus on the lives of Asian-Americans and the complexities of intergenerational relationships, particularly those of mothers and daughters. Her best-selling novel The Joy Luck Club was based on the tragic experiences of her mother, who had years earlier fled an abusive marriage, though it meant leaving her three daughters behind in Shanghai. When did Tan finally meet her half-sisters? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Exciting literature after supper is not the best digestive.Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make heavy going of (something)— To make something harder or more laborious to do, especially more than is usual or necessary. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Float Festival (Theppotsavam) (2019)The Float Festival is held at the temple city of Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, to commemorate the birth of Tirumala Nayak, a 17th-century king of Madurai. The center of the festival is the Mariamman Teppakulam pond surrounding a temple on an island. Images of the goddess Meenakshi and her consort are floated on a flower-bedecked raft to the illuminated temple, and a spectacular array of lit floats moves in procession around the pond, accompanied by music and chanted hymns. Thousands of pilgrims from all over India attend this enormously popular festival. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: incapableimpassible, impassable - Impassible is incapable of feeling or suffering; impassable is not capable of being passed. More... impregnable - Means "incapable of being taken by force" (from French prendre, "seize"). More... indefatigable - Means "incapable of being wearied." More... inimitable - Means "unique; incapable of being imitated." More... | |