Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, September 21, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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chivvy
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Superlative AdjectivesSuperlative adjectives are adjectives that describe the attribute of a person or thing that is the highest (or lowest) in degree compared to the members of the noun's group. Although superlative adjectives are similar to comparative adjectives, they differ in what two ways? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 FlanFlan is a dessert made by adding custard to a caramel-lined mold. After it is baked, then chilled, it is tipped out of the mold so the caramel is on top. The dish is popular around the world, from Europe to the Philippines to Latin America, and one form is a staple of Japanese convenience stores. Though flan is typically vanilla-flavored, it can be made with a number of other flavors, such as almond or chocolate. A variation of flan popular in Puerto Rico contains an added layer of what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" Editorial Is Published (1897)In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon of New York City asked her father if Santa Claus was real. When he suggested that "if you see it in The Sun, it's so," she wrote to the newspaper and asked. Editor Francis Pharcellus Church's lengthy, touching reply became one of the most reprinted newspaper editorials in US history. "Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias," wrote Church. What happened to Virginia? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853)A Dutch physicist and professor at the University of Leiden, Onnes founded in 1884 a cryogenic laboratory that would become a renowned research center for low-temperature physics. He was the first to produce liquid helium, and in the process produced a temperature within a degree of absolute zero. He also discovered superconductivity—the abnormally high electrical conductivity of certain materials at very low temperatures. When he first observed superconductivity, what did he think it was? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The first duty of a lecturer—to hand you after an hour's discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks, and keep on the mantelpiece forever.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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I take it— I imagine this is the case; I presume it to be true (that); it is my understanding (that). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 International Day of Peace (2020)This is a day proclaimed by the U.N. each year to promote the ideals of peace. The first official observance of the International Day of Peace was in September 1982. At the United Nations, the day is marked with a special message by the secretary-general, who then rings the Japanese Peace Bell and invites people throughout the world to reflect on the meaning of peace. Special events are organized in various countries, and in the United States the mayors of a number of cities issue proclamations for the day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: turkeypoult - A young domestic fowl (like a turkey) being raised for food. More... meleagrine - The adjective form of turkey. More... wattle - The fleshy part hanging from the neck of a turkey or other bird. More... turkey - Originally the name for African guinea fowl, it eventually became the name for the Western hemisphere fowl with which the earlier fowl was confused; it is short for turkeycock or turkeyhen. More... | |