Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, September 15, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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ostensible
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Ending Exclamatory SentencesExclamation points are most often used in place of periods to end declarative sentences that express a very strong emotion, such as anger, excitement, surprise, or disgust. What are such sentences sometimes called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Lost Land of LemuriaPuzzled by the presence of lemur fossils in Madagascar and India—but not in Africa or the Middle East—19th-century geologist Philip Sclater theorized that the two land masses containing the fossils had once been part of a larger, now mostly submerged continent, which he named "Lemuria." Following the scientific community's acceptance of the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift, however, Sclater's theory was widely dismissed. What is one example of an actual sunken continent? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Nuremberg Laws Deprive German Jews of Citizenship and Civil Rights (1935)Enacted in the early years of Adolf Hitler's rule, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of German citizenship, prohibited them from marrying non-Jews, and forbade them to hire non-Jewish domestic servants. Supplementary decrees laid down the criteria for determining exactly who was legally Jewish. Punishments for violating the laws included fines, hard labor, and even death. Three years after the laws were announced, another law required Jews to adopt what middle names? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Howard Taft (1857)An extremely large, easygoing man, Taft was said to have not really wanted to be US president. In 1908, he was elected anyway, having already served as solicitor general, appellate judge, secretary of war, and governor of the Philippines. His split with former president Theodore Roosevelt, who consequently ran for office again, cost them both the 1912 election. Taft later served as chief justice of the Supreme Court. He was the last president to have what physical characteristic? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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let me tell you— Used to emphasize a statement. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Nicaragua Independence Day (2020)Nicaragua shares its Independence Day with four other Central American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras— all of which declared their independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. There is a parade in the capital city of Managua, and the president and other public officials give speeches. Nicaraguans also celebrate Independence Day by attending cockfights and bullfights. But unlike bullfights in other countries, the Nicaraguan matador does not kill the bull. Instead, he tries to mount it and ride it rodeo-style. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: replyriposte - A counterstroke, such as a snappy retort, from Italian riposta, "reply, response." More... antapology - The reply to an apology, such as "That's all right." More... irrespondence - People not answering your e-mails? That's irrespondence! (Failure to reply.) More... | |