Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, January 21, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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roughage
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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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 MonomaniaIn the 19th century, monomania was one of seven recognized categories of mental illness. This type of mental disorder was characterized by excessive preoccupation with one thing, subject, or idea and could be classified as either emotional, meaning it involved an obsession with an emotion, or intellectual, involving a preoccupation with a single idea. Although it is no longer used as a technical term in psychology, a number of disorders once classified as monomania are now known as what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Louis XVI of France Is Guillotined (1793)Louis XVI was the king of France during the complex sociopolitical conflict that culminated in the French Revolution, but he was shy, dull, and corpulent and lacked the leadership skills necessary for the job. During the revolution, he was caught attempting to flee the Tuileries palace in disguise, and when proof of his counterrevolutionary actions emerged, he was tried for treason and beheaded. It is said that while his blood dripped to the ground, many in the crowd ran forward to do what? 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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 Every desire bears its death in its very gratification. Curiosity languishes under repeated stimulants, and novelties cease to excite and surprise, until at length we cannot wonder even at a miracle.Washington Irving (1783-1859) | |
| 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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 Barrow Day (2023)This national public holiday honors Barbados' first prime minister. Errol Barrow was born in 1920, earned a law degree in England, then returned to Barbados, where he became finance minister in 1959 and prime minister in 1961. He was reelected in 1966 and, soon after, Barbados gained independence from Great Britain. Barrow was voted out in 1976 but regained office in 1986; he died the next year. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: productivecost-effective - Anything effective and productive in relation to its cost. More... fecund, fecundation - Fecund is another word for "fertile, fruitful, productive"; fecundation is another word for "fertilization, impregnation." More... originary - An adjective meaning "causing existence; productive," or "primitive; primary; original." More... | |