Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, October 3, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Modal Verbs and TenseA modal verb must always be used with a main verb—they cannot stand completely on their own. But because we cannot use modal verbs with main verbs that are in a past-tense form, the verb that follows a modal must always be in what form? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Odd SympathyThe phrase "odd sympathy" was coined by Dutch mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens to describe the tendency of two pendulums mounted on the same beam to end up swinging in exactly opposite directions. Huygens, the inventor of the pendulum clock, at first attributed the effect to air currents, but he dismissed this hypothesis himself after performing several tests. His later hypothesis—confirmed centuries later by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers—attributed it to what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" (1951)Late in the 1951 baseball season, the New York Giants trailed far behind their crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, in the standings. However, the Giants went on a winning streak, and the two teams finished the regular season with identical 96-58 records. In the first two games of a three-game playoff series, the teams traded wins. In the bottom of game three's ninth inning, the Giants were trailing 4-2 with two men on base when Bobby Thomson came to bat. What happened next? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 James Alfred Wight, AKA James Herriot (1916)After working for many years as a veterinary surgeon in rural England, Wight was persuaded by his wife to write down his collection of anecdotes. His humorous, fictionalized reminiscences were published under the pen name James Herriot in If Only They Could Talk (1970) and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1972), issued in the US as the single and massively successful volume All Creatures Great and Small. Why did Wight feel the need to write under a pseudonym? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There's nothing like a debate to teach one quickness.E. M. Forster (1879-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hothead— A person with an excitable, fiery, or impetuous temper or disposition; one who is quick to get angry or act rashly. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Korea National Foundation Day (2024)This national holiday in the Republic of Korea (South Korea), also known as Gaecheon-jeol, commemorates the legendary founding of the Korean nation in 2333 BCE by Tangun. Prince Hwan-ung left heaven to rule earth from Mt. T'aebaek and bore a son called Tangun Wanggom, meaning Sandalwood King. When he grew up, he built his own city and called his new kingdom Choson. The myth is important in that it links the Korean people with a heavenly origin. The holiday is celebrated with ceremonies at the ancient rock altar of Tangun, on the summit of Mt. Mani on Kanghwa Island, about 25 miles west of Seoul. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: inflammationpleuritis, pleurisy - Greek pleura, "side" or "rib," came to be used for the "inner lining of the chest; lungs," and pleuritis or pleurisy is the inflammation of this area. More... intertrigo - Inflammation caused by the rubbing of one area of skin on another. More... phlegm - Comes from Latin phlegma, "clammy moisture," and Greek phlegma, "inflammation." More... polio - An abbreviation of poliomyelitis, from Greek polios, "gray," and muelos, "marrow," meaning "inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord." More... | |