Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, December 10, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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greensward
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Adverbial ClausesAn adverbial clause, or adverb clause, is a group of words behaving as an adverb. It is used, like a regular adverb, to modify adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. If we want to identify the function of an adverbial clause in a sentence, what can we look at? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Gin CrazeIn 18th-century London, an unprecedented rise in the popularity of gin led to a decades-long epidemic of extreme public drunkenness known as the Gin Craze. Moral outrage and legislative action ensued. Between 1729 and 1751, a series of laws were passed to control gin consumption. Often, such laws resulted in mass law-breaking. Lower wages, rising food prices, and the unprofitability of gin production eventually conspired to end the craze. How had gin become so popular in the first place? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 UN General Assembly Adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)Drafted by a committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the world's most translated document. Among its 30 articles are definitions of civil and political rights, as well as definitions of economic, social, and cultural rights—all of which are owed by UN member states to those under their jurisdiction. Since its adoption, it has acquired more juridical status than originally intended and has been widely used, even by national courts, in what ways? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Emily Dickinson (1830)Dickinson is widely considered one of the greatest American poets. After attending Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke Seminary, she returned to her family home and spent the rest of her life there, writing. By 1860, she was boldly experimenting with language. Few of her poems were published in her lifetime, but after her death, her cache of poems was discovered, and heavily edited collections were published starting in 1890. It was not until what year that an unaltered collection was published? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair.Herman Melville (1819-1891) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a living legend— A person who has an extraordinary reputation or level of fame while he or she is still alive. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Nobel Prize Ceremony (2024)Nobel Prizes are awarded each year to people, regardless of nationality, deemed to have made the most significant practical efforts toward the well-being of the human race. In his will, the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) directed that the income from his estate be used to fund five annual prizes. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901; a sixth prize—in economics—was added in 1969. Winners receive the awards at a special ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. The peace prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: magicaeaeae - Meaning "magic," it is derived from aealae artes, "magic arts." More... elicit - Comes from a Latin stem meaning "draw forth by magic or trickery." More... glamour - First meant "magic, enchantment" or "art of contriving magic spells." More... magic - Named for the magi, who were regarded as magicians. More... | |