Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, September 7, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Adverbial PhrasesAn "adverbial phrase" (also known as an "adverb phrase") is a group of words that functions as an adverb in a sentence. What do adverbial phrases typically give descriptions of? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Gap YearAfter completing high school or college, more and more students around the world are opting to take a year off to travel before continuing their education or entering the workplace. Known as a gap year, among many other names, the prolonged break—often but not always lasting a year—is usually spent working, learning a language, volunteering, or combining activities into a so-called working holiday. In what countries is the gap year less popular? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Tupac Shakur Is Shot (1996)In 1996, Shakur, an American rap star and actor, was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting while stopped at a red light on the Las Vegas strip. He died six days later. The 25-year-old Shakur had been involved in a violent rivalry between the East and West Coast rap scenes and had survived another shooting less than two years earlier. His killer has never been identified. However, some suspect that it was a man who had been in a public altercation with Shakur hours before the shooting—who? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jacob Lawrence (1917)Lawrence was a leading black artist who portrayed African-American life, experience, and history with vivid, stylized realism. He was only in his twenties when his series depicting the migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North thrust him into the national spotlight. His use of somber browns and black for shadows and outlines in an otherwise vibrant palette lends his work a distinctive overtone, as does his flat painting style. Where can one view his last public work? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 No man knocks himself down; if his destiny knocks him down, his destiny must pick him up again.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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Faustian bargain— An agreement, bargain, or deal in which a person sacrifices or abandons their moral, ethical, or spiritual values in favor of wealth, power, or other benefits. A reference to the legend of Faust, who sold his soul to the devil for unlimited knowledge and power. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Skipjack Races and Land Festival (2020)A skipjack is a kind of sail-powered fishing boat that was popular in the 19th century. Around the turn of the 20th century, more than 1,000 skipjacks worked the waters off Deal Island, Maryland. By 1960, only 40 remained. It was then that local enthusiasts revived the skipjack races, which dated back to 1871, for Labor Day weekend. People from all over the state come to Deal Island harbor on that weekend to cheer on the skippers of these traditional craft and to honor the contribution that the fishing industry has made to the region's history. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: insignificantpiff - Something insignificant. More... bee's knees - Used from 1797 for "something insignificant." More... floccinaucinihilipilification, floccipend - Floccinaucinihilipilification is estimating or categorizing something as worthless, and floccipend means "regard as insignificant" (from Latin flocci pendere, "hold at little value"). More... piteous, pitiable, pitiful - Piteous is generally not used when speaking of people, pitiable means "able to be pitied," and pitiful most often means "insignificant; below contempt." More... | |