Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, May 5, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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decennium
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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AdjunctsAdjuncts are parts of a sentence that are used to elaborate on or modify other words or phrases in a sentence. What are misplaced modifiers? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Vlad III the Impaler: The Original DraculaVlad III, son of Prince Vlad Dracul, briefly ruled Wallachia in the mid-15th century. Known as Dracula, meaning "Son of the Dragon" or "Son of the Devil," Vlad lived up to his moniker. He ruled with terrible cruelty, impaling tens of thousands and earning his own nickname—"the Impaler." The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, although not based on Vlad's historical exploits, introduced the name Dracula to a global audience. What other execution methods are said to have been favored by Vlad? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First American in Space (1961)In 1961, 23 days after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to be launched into space. Shepard's suborbital flight—part of the US space program Project Mercury—reached a height of 115 miles (185 km). He performed several maneuvers of his capsule, Freedom 7, but returned after only a 15-minute flight. Although Gagarin was the first human in space, Shepard was the first to return in what way? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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.png) Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747)The third son of Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, Leopold II succeeded his father as duke of Tuscany in 1765 and his brother as emperor and ruler of the Hapsburg lands in 1790. A practitioner of what has been termed enlightened despotism, Leopold is remembered as a ruler of outstanding diplomatic and administrative abilities. He was emperor for just two years, but in that time, he precipitated the decade-long French Revolutionary Wars by making an alliance with what power? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The land of literature is a fairy-land to those who view it at a distance, but, like all other landscapes, the charm fades on a nearer approach, and the thorns and briars become visible.Washington Irving (1783-1859) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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cast in concrete— Firmly or permanently established; not subject to change; unalterable. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Cinco de Mayo (2021)Cinco de Mayo, or the Fifth of May, is a national holiday in Mexico commemorating the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which Mexican troops under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the invading French forces of Napoleon III. The anniversary of this event is celebrated not only in Mexico but in many American communities with large Mexican-American populations—especially in the southwestern states of Texas, Arizona, and southern California. The events include parades, patriotic speeches, bullfights, barbecues, and beauty contests. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: strivecompete - Comes from Latin competere, "come together," but in later Latin, it developed the sense "strive together," which was the basis for the English term. More... repugn, repugnant - Repugn means "to strive against" or "be contradictory or inconsistent," giving us repugnant. More... strive - Seems to be from Old French estriver, "quarrel, strive." More... win - Its Germanic base gave it its first meaning, "to labor, strive, work." More... | |