Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, April 29, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Collective NounsCollective nouns are nouns that refer to a collection or group of multiple people, animals, or things. They usually function as singular nouns in a sentence, but they are occasionally used as plurals, too. What are some examples of collective nouns that can only be plural? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 I ChingOne of the Five Classics of Confucianism, the I Ching is an ancient Chinese text whose title means "Book of Changes." The main body of the work addresses the divinatory system used in the Zhou dynasty. A supplementary section of "commentaries," believed to date from the Warring States period, is a philosophical exposition that attempts to explain the world and its ethical principles by describing all nature and human endeavor in terms of the interaction of what two principles? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 WWII: Operation Manna Begins (1945)During WWII, the Royal Air Force delivered 6,680 tons food into parts of the German-occupied Netherlands, with the acquiescence of the occupying forces, to feed starving Dutch citizens suffering from a famine that ultimately claimed 18,000 lives. Operation Manna, as it was called, was named for the food that the Book of Exodus says miraculously appeared for the Israelites in the wilderness. The mission ended on May 8, when Germany's surrender ended the war in Europe. How was the food delivered? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John Arbuthnot (1667)Greatly admired in his time, Arbuthnot was a Scottish scientist, mathematician, and satirist. The court physician to Queen Anne, he is best remembered for his five "John Bull" pamphlets, political satires on the Whig war policy that introduced the character John Bull, a personification of England akin to the American Uncle Sam. With his friends Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John Gay, Arbuthnot was a founding member of the famous Scriblerus Club, an organization devoted to what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Flowers...are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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cross as two sticks— Angry or irritated. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Sham el-Nessim (2019)A national holiday and folk festival in Egypt, Sham el-Nessim has been observed for thousands of years as a day to smell the breezes and celebrate spring. While the date is set by the Coptic calendar, the holiday is now a non-religious national holiday observed by everyone as a family affair. Traditionally, people pack picnics to have outings along the Nile River or in parks. Certain food is specified for the occasion: the main dish is fessikh, a kind of salted fish, and it's also traditional to have mouloukhiya (stuffed vine leaves) and eggs with decorated, colored shells. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: noonhigh noon - Exactly 12 noon. More... luncheon - An extension of the word lunch, based on nuncheon, "a drink taken at noon." More... noon - Derived from the Latin word nona, "ninth," as it originally meant the ninth hour after sunrise, about 3 p.m. More... post meridiem - The expansion of p.m., from Latin, meaning "after noon" (1647). More... | |