Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, July 9, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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built-in
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositional Phrases Used AdverbiallyPrepositional phrases are often used adverbially, though they can also function as adjectives. If the phrase is modifying an adjective, verb, or adverb, it is an adverbial phrase. If the phrase is modifying a noun or a pronoun, what is it called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The BendsDecompression sickness is a disorder that often affects scuba divers who ascend from the depths too quickly, causing severe joint and muscle pain, nausea, paralysis, and even death—for no externally obvious reason. Under pressure, respiratory gasses are compressed and dissolved in the body’s tissues. When a person rapidly moves to a lower pressure environment, the dissolved gases expand and form bubbles that cause "the bends." Workers in what other occupations are susceptible to this sickness? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US President Zachary Taylor Dies in Office (1850)On a hot 4th of July in Washington, DC, Taylor—who had been US president for just 16 months—enjoyed a cool snack of cherries and milk. Five days later, he was dead. The official cause of death was listed as gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines that can be caused by food poisoning. His remains were exhumed in 1991 and showed no evidence of foul play. According to one historian, Taylor could have recovered had he not been bled, blistered, and given what cocktail of drugs? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Oliver Wolf Sacks (1933)Sacks is a British-American neurologist and writer. He immigrated to the US in 1960 to study neurology at the University of California, and in 1965 he joined the faculty at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Many of his books relate case histories of neurologically damaged people, particularly those afflicted with unusual conditions. His 1973 book Awakenings, which was made into a film in 1990, chronicles his efforts to treat the survivors of what mysterious sickness? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I've been a great deal happier ... since I have given up thinking about what is easy and pleasant, and being discontented because I couldn't have my own will. Our life is determined for us—and it makes the mind very free when we give up wishing, and only think of bearing what is laid upon us, and doing what is given us to do.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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holy crickets— An exclamation of surprise, shock, or astonishment. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Choctaw Indian Fair (2020)This is a four-day annual gathering of the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians. Held since 1949 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, it features—besides dances, crafts exhibits, and pageantry—the Choctaw Stickball World Series. Choctaw stickball, the forerunner of lacrosse, is played with long-handled sticks with pouches at the ends for carrying and pitching a leather ball. It is called the "granddaddy of games" and is thought to be the oldest field sport in America. More than 20,000 visitors usually attend the fair. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: repeatrecap, recapitulate - Recap is short for recapitulate, literally "repeat the headings." More... trackway - A path formed by the repeated treading of animals or people. More... frequent - From Latin frequens, "crowded" or "regularly repeated." More... spam - As in e-mail, it gets its name from the Monty Python sketch in which the word is repeated many times. More... | |