Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, February 1, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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extenuation
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Personal Pronouns - Reflexive PronounsReflexive pronouns are used when someone or something is both the subject and the object of the same verb—i.e., when both performing and receiving the action. What are the nine reflexive pronouns? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Grub Street"Grub Street" was the name of a street in London known for its concentration of aspiring authors and poets, low-end publishers and bookshops, and writers of low-quality books. It existed on the margins of London's journalistic and literary scene and became famous for its bohemian society amidst low-rent flophouses, brothels, and coffeehouses. Today, "Grub Street" is used as a pejorative term for hack writers and their literary output. What poet popularized the contemporary image of Grub Street? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Volume of Oxford English Dictionary Is Published (1884)Though the first volume, A–Ant, was published in 1884, the first complete edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was not published until 1928. Planned as a 10-year project, the 44-year undertaking resulted in a comprehensive, historical dictionary of English—the longest in the world today. It required more than 800 volunteers to compile material, including one who, it was later learned, turned out to be working from an asylum for the criminally insane. Why was he there? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Clark Gable (1901)Despite having such large ears that some doubted he could become a romantic lead, Gable had a rugged masculinity and lighthearted charm that proved popular with audiences. The actor debuted on Broadway in 1928 and went to Hollywood in 1930. There he starred in Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind, and It Happened One Night, for which he won an Academy Award. What tragedy prompted him to give up show business and become a bomber pilot during World War II? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Beauty ought to look a little surprised: it is the emotion that best suits her face. The beauty who does not look surprised, who accepts her position as her due—she reminds us too much of a prima donna.E. M. Forster (1879-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get the green light— To receive permission to proceed with some action or task. Likened to the green light of a traffic signal. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Black History Month (2020)Black History Month grew out of Negro History Week, which was established in February 1926 by African-American historian Carter G. Woodson, who founded the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. Initially designed to encompass the birthday of the abolitionist orator Frederick Douglass on February 14 as well as Abraham Lincoln's Birthday, it was expanded in 1976 to a month-long observance. The event is widely observed by schools, churches, libraries, clubs, and organizations wishing to draw attention to the contributions of African Americans. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: similarityeye rhyme - A similarity between words in spelling but not pronunciation—like dove and move. More... icon - Originally a "simile" in rhetoric; its etymological idea is of "similarity," from Greek eikon, "likeness, similarity." More... goose pimples - Named for their similarity to the skin of a plucked goose. More... lens - From Latin for "lentil," because of the similarity in shape. More... | |