Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, January 21, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Intransitive Verbs in the "Middle" VoiceWhile the majority of reflexive verbs are transitive, with reflexive pronouns as their objects, certain intransitive verbs can be used to modify a subject (usually an inanimate object) that is also the receiver of the action. What happens to intransitive verbs in the middle voice? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Portuguese Bank Note CrisisPerpetrated by Portuguese criminal Alves dos Reis, the Portuguese Bank Note Crisis was one of the largest frauds in history. In 1924, Reis forged a contract that fooled a legitimate print company into printing illegitimate banknotes for him. By the time his scheme was revealed, Reis had introduced into circulation banknotes equivalent to nearly 1% of Portugal's gross domestic product at the time, causing widespread economic and political repercussions. How did he initially cover up his scam? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Kiwanis Club Is Chartered (1915)In 1914, Allen S. Browne and Joseph G. Prance created the Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order Brothers, a networking group for businessmen. Their club was officially chartered one year later with its now famous name "Kiwanis." The club's purpose has changed since then, but its popularity has only grown. Kiwanis Clubs today have both male and female members—roughly 600,000 of them—and focus on community service, sponsoring about 150,000 service projects each year. What does "Kiwanis" mean? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John Bodkin Adams (1899)Adams was an Irish-born British physician suspected of having been a serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients, many of them elderly, died under suspicious circumstances—most leaving him money or items in their wills. He was tried for the murder of one patient but was acquitted. He was later convicted of other crimes, but never murder. A 2000 article in the British Medical Journal suggests that Adams may have been the role model for what other serial-killer doctor? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Nature abhors the old, and old age seems the only disease; all others run into this one.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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loss of face— The state or circumstance of having lost the respect of other people, as due to having done something improper or unacceptable. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Babin Den (2025)In Bulgaria, the old women who helped deliver babies—much like the modern midwife—were called baba, or grandmother. It was widely believed that the baby received some of the baba's wisdom, and it was customary for the baby's parents to bring the baba flowers on a particular day each year, called Grandmother's Day or Day of the Midwives. Eventually the children grew up, but they would continue to visit their baba each year. Most babies in Bulgaria today are born in hospitals, so the children bring flowers to the doctors and nurses who assisted at their birth. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: stealembezzle - Originally, it simply meant "steal." More... purloin - Meaning to steal, it is from Latin pur/pro, "forth," and loign, "far." More... scrounge - First meant to live off or sponge off someone else; it is a variant of scrunge, "steal." More... snoop - From Dutch snoepen, "eat on the sly," it first meant "steal and eat in a clandestine manner." More... | |