Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, August 14, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming Collective AdjectivesCollective adjectives are a subgroup of nominal adjectives, or adjectives that act as nouns. They are used to refer to a group of people based on a characteristic that they share. What article is usually added before the adjective? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Fig WaspsThe life cycle of fig wasps is intimately intertwined with that of the fig trees they inhabit. It begins when a female wasp enters the fruit through a natural opening and deposits her eggs inside, pollinating the inner flowers in the process. Next, non-pollinating wasps deposit their eggs. After maturing inside the fig, male offspring's only jobs are to mate with the females—while still within the fig—and chew a hole through which the females can escape. What happens when the males exit the fig? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 British Troops Are Deployed in Northern Ireland (1969)In August 1969, tensions between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland came to a head in the predominantly-Catholic Bogside neighborhood of Londonderry. For days, fighting raged with Catholic residents on one side and police and Protestant residents on the other. On August 14, British troops were deployed to restore order. Some consider that day to be the definitive beginning of the decades-long conflict known as The Troubles. How did residents react to the arrival of the army? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Pope Pius VII (1742)Pius VII became pope in 1800, at a time of turmoil for the Catholic Church. A decade earlier, during the early stages of the French Revolution, the National Assembly tried to subordinate the Church to the state. In 1801, Pius and Napoleon negotiated an end to the breach, but relations remained strained. In one notable incident, Napoleon took his crown from the pope's hands during a ceremony and crowned himself. What unusual headgear did Pius VII allegedly wear during his own coronation and why? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 To learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other.Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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say again— Could you please repeat what you just said? More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Pakistan Independence Day (2021)On this day in 1947, Pakistan gained independence from Britain. Pakistan had been part of the immense British colony of India since the 18th century. Independence Day is a national holiday observed in much the same way as Pakistan Day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: trunkbillet - A civilian house where soldiers are lodged temporarily; a billet is also a thick piece of wood, from Latin billa/billus, "branch, trunk." More... trunk - As a box or chest, it was originally made from a tree trunk. More... bole - Another name for the trunk of a tree. More... stocky - A derivative of stock, which first meant "trunk, block of wood," in Old English. More... | |