Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, February 4, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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fetter
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adjective ComplementsAn adjective complement is a phrase or clause that provides information necessary to complete an adjective phrase’s meaning. Adjective complements are similar to but distinct from modifiers of adjectives. How do they differ? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The World's Largest FlowerNative to the rain forests of Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines, Rafflesia arnoldii is a plant species that produces the largest individual flower on Earth. The rare parasitic plant has no roots, stems, or leaves and consists only of threadlike growths on the vine that hosts it. However, it produces huge, five-petaled flowers that can measure 3 ft (1 m) across and can weigh up to 24 lbs (11 kg). The flowers emit a distinctive scent that is akin to what fetid odor? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Karen Carpenter Dies of Anorexia-Related Heart Failure (1983)Anorexia nervosa was a little-known disorder during Carpenter's life, but her death brought it lasting media attention. Performing alongside her brother Richard as half of the Carpenters duo, she had become a successful pop singer in the 1970s. Behind the scenes, however, her obsessive dieting and extreme weight fluctuations took a toll on her health, straining her heart. She succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 32. What is her husband said to have thrown into the casket at her funeral? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Rosa Parks (1913)An icon of the US civil rights movement, Parks is often portrayed as a tired, elderly African-American seamstress who was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, after deciding on the spur of the moment not to give up her bus seat to a white man. In reality, she was a fairly young woman who had been a civil rights activist long before her arrest, which sparked an unprecedented, successful boycott of the city's segregated bus system. How did Parks know the bus driver who had her arrested in 1955? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Have you ever had a difference with a dear friend? How his letters, written in the period of love and confidence, sicken and rebuke you! What a dreary mourning it is to dwell upon those vehement protests of dead affection!William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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knock (one's) head against a/the wall— To attempt continuously and fruitlessly to accomplish some task or achieve some goal that is or seems ultimately hopeless. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Agatha Festival (2021)Sant' Agata (St. Agatha) is especially revered in Catania, Sicily, where her relics are preserved in a silver casket. On February 3, 4, and 5 each year, a silver bust of St. Agatha wearing a jewel-encrusted crown is carried in procession from the cathedral to Catania's various churches. Included in the procession are the ceri, huge wooden replicas of candlesticks that are carved with episodes from the saint's martyrdom. The streets are lined with streamers and flowers, and illuminated by strings of colored lights after dark. The festival ends with a fireworks display in the piazza. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shockshock - An encounter between two charging hostile forces. More... enfant terrible - Actually applies to young adults (generally male) who go out of their way to shock or embarrass but at the same time are considered talented. More... perculsive - Describing something that gives you a shock. More... ay, chihuahua - This interjection expresses surprise or shock—even dismay, annoyance, or resignation. More... | |