Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, October 2, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The Difference between Transitive and Intransitive VerbsEnglish verbs are split into two major categories depending on how they function in a sentence: transitive and intransitive. Transitive verbs take one or more objects in a sentence. How many objects do intransitive verbs take? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Woodblock PrintingEven after the invention of movable type in the mid-15th century, some European printers continued to use engraved wooden blocks, one for each page, to print their books. These European block books were the first Western examples of printed book illustration. However, woodblock printing—developed in China by the 9th century—has a richer history in the East, since the vast number of Chinese characters made printing from movable type exceedingly difficult. What are the most famous block books? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Twilight Zone Premieres on CBS (1959)A classic science-fiction show that ran for just five years, The Twilight Zone was created by veteran television writer Rod Serling. More than half of its 155 unrelated episodes were written or co-written by Serling, who also narrated each half-hour episode with his trademark deadpan. The show often starred soon-to-be-famous actors such as William Shatner and Robert Redford. Many episodes featured frightening or ironic plot twists. What were some of the show's most celebrated episodes? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (1890)Marx and his brothers entered show business with their mother as a vaudeville act in the early 1900s. Later in his career, he enjoyed success as host of the TV game show You Bet Your Life, which was mainly a showcase for his witty banter with contestants. By the end of his career, he had become an instantly recognizable cultural institution who was lauded by individuals as disparate as Johnny Carson and T. S. Eliot. What event that occurred three days earlier overshadowed his 1977 death? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions ... I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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park the bus— In football (soccer), to employ all (or nearly all) of a team's active players in defending its own side of the pitch. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Guardian Angels Day (2022)As early as the ninth century, a day was set aside to honor angels in general and the archangel Michael in particular. This was September 29, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels or Michaelmas. But some people, believing that a particular angel is assigned to watch over each human being, wanted to honor their own personal protectors or guardian angels. A feast in their honor observed in 16th-century Spain was extended to the whole church by Pope Paul V in 1608, and, in 1672, Pope Clement X set October 2 as the universal day for the festival. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mashbangers and mash - Sausage and mashed potatoes. More... farrago - From Latin, originally "a mash for feeding cattle"; later, figuratively, a medley or hodgepodge. More... mash - Originally malt mixed with hot water, to make wort. More... mush, moosh - Mush and moosh (nouns) are variations on mash. More... | |