Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, March 4, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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overstep
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Declension with AdverbsWe can inflect adverbs when we want to compare the degree to which two actions are performed (comparative adverbs), or to identify the highest degree of how an action is performed (superlative adverbs). What is the progression of inflection for adverbs known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 CremationCremation is a widespread practice that dates to at least 26,000 years ago and is, for many, related to a belief in fire's purifying nature. The practice fell out of favor among Christians until the late 19th c, when people began to recognize the health risk posed by overcrowded cemeteries in large urban centers. Though a log pyre was initially used in cremation, modern methods expose the corpse not to flames but to intense heat that reduces the body to ashes. Which religions prohibit cremation? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Collinwood School Fire (1908)In one of the deadliest disasters of its kind in the United States, 172 children and three adults were killed when an elementary school caught fire in Collinwood, Ohio. Though the building's doors opened outward, they were fitted with regular door latches instead of panic bars, which hindered the evacuation. As the conflagration rapidly spread, many children became trapped. Within two years of the disaster, residents of Collinwood voted to make what dramatic change to their community? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jack Sheppard (1702)A popular English criminal who served as the basis for the character Macheath in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, Sheppard was arrested and imprisoned five times in 1724 alone. The first four times, he escaped. The fifth time, he was executed. Because his crimes were all non-violent, he was well liked, especially by the lower classes, and he became a fixture in the folklore of the era. His execution resembled a party, with the 22-year-old stopping to do what on his way to the gallows? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Two people, when they love each other, grow alike in their tastes and habits and pride, but their moral natures ... are never welded. The base one goes on being base, and the noble one noble, to the end.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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laze about— To relax or spend time idly; to do nothing or very little. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Omizutori Matsuri (2021)Omizutori Matsuri is marked by religious rites that have been observed for 12 centuries at the Buddhist Todaiji Temple in the city of Nara, Japan. During this period of meditative rituals in the first two weeks of March, the drone of recited sutras and the sound of blowing conchs echo from the temple. On March 12, young monks on the temple gallery brandish burning pine-branches, shaking off burning pieces. Spectators below try to catch the sparks, believing they have magic power against evil. On March 13, the ceremony of drawing water is observed to the accompaniment of ancient music. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: horrorhorrible, horror, horrid - Horrible, horror, and horrid are from Latin horrere, "stand on end" (hair) or "tremble, shudder," and the original sense of horrid was "bristly, shaggy, rough." More... horrific, horrendous, horrible, horrid - In decreasing degree of horror: horrific, horrendous, horrible, horrid. More... pant - The shock that makes you "gasp" is behind the word pant, from Latin phantasiare, "gasp in horror." More... terror, horror - Terror is stronger than horror, though it usually lasts for a shorter time. More... | |