Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, September 9, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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impish
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Infinitive PhrasesInfinitives are used to express an action as a concept, rather than what is being done or performed by the subject of a clause. In this way, they can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. They can also form infinitive phrases when combined with what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The KaabaIslam's holiest place, the Kaaba—whose name is derived from the Arabic word for "cube"—is a cuboid stone building located in the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. When performing their daily prayers, Muslims around the world turn to face the Kaaba, whose four corners correspond roughly to the points of the compass. Although the Kaaba is surrounded by a restricted area that can only be entered by Muslims, the structure itself predates Islam. What did the Kaaba represent to pre-Islamic Meccans? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 9-Month-Old Mary Stuart Is Crowned "Queen of Scots" (1543)When King James V of Scotland died in 1542, his two sons had already died in infancy and his only surviving child—a daughter—was just a week old. The infant Mary Queen of Scots was crowned nine months later in an elaborate coronation at Stirling Castle, where she would spend her early years. Laden with regal robes, the tiny sovereign cried throughout the entire ceremony. Soon thereafter, King Henry VIII of England attacked Scotland in an attempt to force what to happen to Mary? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Count Leo Tolstoy (1828)Tolstoy was a Russian novelist and philosopher. Considered one of the world's greatest writers, he is perhaps most famous for his masterpieces, War and Peace, a vast prose epic of the Napoleonic invasion of 1812, and Anna Karenina, about the tragedy of a woman's faith in romantic love. Tolstoy was an anarchist and disapproved of all organizations based on the premise of force, including the government and the church. How many characters are there in War and Peace? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We called him Tortoise because he taught us.Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hard-luck story— A typically self-pitying tale of misfortune, hardship, adversity, etc., told especially to gain sympathy or charity from others. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 U.S. Open (Tennis) (2020)The U.S. Open is the final tournament in the four events that make up the Grand Slam of tennis. The games are played on hard courts at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, New York. The U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association was established in 1881, and the first official U.S. National Championship was played under its auspices that year in Newport, Rhode Island. The first women's championship was played in 1887. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: rustlingsoughing - A soft rustling or murmuring sound—like the deep sigh of a sleeping baby. More... frou-frou - From French for "a rustling." More... murmur - Comes from the Latin word for "rustling," and can mean "complain, grumble about." More... psithurism - The sound of wind in the trees and rustling of leaves. More... | |