Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, November 5, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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engrossing
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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"Yet" as an Adverb of TimeAs an adverb of time, the word "yet" is used primarily in negative sentences or in questions. It can appear at the end of the sentence, or it can follow the word "not" before the main verb in a negative sentence. Where in a sentence does "yet" not appear? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The HammockA hammock is a length of canvas or heavy netting suspended between two trees or other supports and used as a seat or bed. The hammock and its name were introduced to Europeans by Christopher Columbus, who encountered them in the New World. Hammocks have been used to save space on naval vessels and as a means of conveyance—similar to a stretcher—in tropical areas. They are symbolic of relaxation and are popular with hikers. A spreader bar can make a hammock wider but comes with what drawback? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Gunpowder Plot Is Thwarted (1605)Angered by King James I's refusal to grant more religious toleration to Catholics, a group of conspirators plotted to blow up Parliament and kill the king. The plot was discovered, and conspirator Guy Fawkes was arrested in a cellar under the palace at Westminster, where he had concealed 36 barrels of gunpowder. Under torture, he revealed the names of his coconspirators, and they were all either killed while resisting arrest or executed in 1606. How is November 5 celebrated in England today? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William James Durant (1885)Durant was an American historian and essayist. In 1926, he published The Story of Philosophy, which soon became a bestseller. He then began a decades-long project—the writing of a comprehensive history of civilization. The result was The Story of Civilization, a monumental, 4,000,000-word, 10,000-page work stretching from prehistory to the 19th century. The series, published in 11 volumes from 1935 to 1975, introduced millions to intellectual history. Who coauthored the work? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The man who talks everlastingly and promiscuously, who seems to have an exhaustless magazine of sound, crowds so many words into his thoughts that he always obscures, and very frequently conceals them.Washington Irving (1783-1859) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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the keys to the kingdom— A resource that will give the possessor access to the most complete or profound knowledge or power possible in a given area or pursuit. A reference to Matthew 16:19, when Jesus said to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Guy Fawkes Day (2024)On the night of November 4, 1605, 36 barrels of gunpowder were discovered beneath the Houses of Parliament in London. The conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot planned to blow up King James I to avenge laws against Roman Catholics. While Guy Fawkes didn't originate the plan, he was caught red-handed after someone tipped off the king's ministers. The following year, Parliament established November 5 as a national day of thanksgiving. Effigies of Guy Fawkes are still burned in bonfires that night, and fireworks fill the skies over Britain in remembrance of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: punctuationem dash, en dash - The em dash is the long dash used in punctuation whose length is based on the width of the letter M; the en dash is shorter (the width of an N) and the hyphen is even shorter. More... punctual - From Latin punctum, "point," it can mean "pertaining to punctuation," or "of or relating to a point in space." More... square brackets, parentheses, braces - Square brackets were formerly called crotchets, round brackets are commonly called parentheses, and curly brackets are called braces; the punctuation called brackets derives from the bookshelf type, implying that, in writing, these marks "lift up" a section of a sentence. More... stigmeology - The art of punctuation. More... | |