Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, September 26, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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undersell
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining MitigatorsMitigators, a subset of adverbs of degree, are adverbs or adverbials that modify adjectives and adverbs to reduce their intensity, making them seem less extreme or powerful. "Slightly" is an example of a mitigator. What are some others? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Mud-PuddlingLepidopteran insects like butterflies and moths use diverse strategies to gather liquid nutrients. In addition to sucking nectar from flowers, some butterflies take in water and nutrients such as salts and amino acids from substrates like wet soil, dung, and carrion. In many species, only the males engage in mud-puddling, but they pass nutrients to females during mating, increasing their odds of reproductive success. Some butterflies draw nutrients from blood, tears, and what other substances? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Steamship RMS Queen Mary Is Launched (1934)Construction on the Queen Mary ocean liner began in Scotland in 1930. In 1934, British King George V's consort, Queen Mary, christened the ship in her own name. Operated by the Cunard Line, the glamorous luxury ship carried passengers between New York and England for decades—except during World War II, when it was painted grey and converted to carry troops. In the 1960s, air travel rendered transatlantic passenger ships obsolete, and the Queen Mary was retired. Where is it now? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot (1888)Eliot was an American-British poet and critic and an immensely distinguished literary figure who, from the 1920s on, was the most influential English-language modernist poet. His early poems, such as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land," express the anguish and barrenness of modern life and the isolation of the individual. In his later poetry, he turned from spiritual desolation to hope for human salvation. What book by Eliot is the basis for the musical Cats? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 When a subject is highly controversial...one cannot hope to tell the truth. One can only show how one came to hold whatever opinion one does hold. One can only give one's audience the chance of drawing their own conclusions as they observe the limitations, the prejudices, the idiosyncrasies of the speaker.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be cleaned out— To be emptied or devoid of money, food, resources, etc. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Cure Salée (2020)The Tuareg, a largely nomadic ethnic group found primarily in Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Libya, converge with their camels and cattle on a place known as Ingal just after the first rains of the season arrive. The Salt Festival takes its name from the salt contained in the new grass, which is essential to the animals' diet. Each Tuareg group participating in the Cure Salée follows a very specific transhumance or seasonal migration route, some traveling hundreds of miles. The return of the rains is also celebrated with dancing, singing, and camel races. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: ignoreflout, flaunt - Flout means "defy, ignore" and flaunt means "show off." More... ignore, disregard - Ignore is properly used of things that are present in one's surroundings; for things like rules, conventions, stipulations, and contracts, the right word is disregard. More... stet - Latin for "let it stand," a notation to ignore a correction made to a text. More... | |