Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, May 15, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Emphasizing Duration with the Present Perfect ContinuousThe present perfect continuous is especially useful for putting emphasis on the length of time that has passed while something is happening. What is the present perfect continuous verb in the following sentence? "They have been studying for three weeks for this exam." More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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| This Day in History | |
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 The Great Gold Robbery (1855)On the night of May 15, 1855, a shipment of gold bars and coins was sent from London to Paris, first via the South Eastern Railway and then on a ship across the English Channel. When the shipment arrived in Boulogne, France, the containers—all of which were locked and sealed—were found to be missing a large amount of the gold, worth about 12,000 British pounds at the time. The missing weight had been replaced with lead shot. A group of men was later arrested for the theft. How had they done it? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (1857)Shortly after Fleming emigrated from Scotland to the US with her husband, their marriage failed. Forced to support herself, she worked as a housekeeper for the director of the Harvard College Observatory, who soon hired her to do clerical work at the observatory. She quickly rose through the ranks and went on to make significant contributions to the field of astronomy—classifying thousands of stars and discovering numerous variable stars and novae. At what age did her formal education end? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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| Idiom of the Day | |
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on in years— Advanced in age; old or becoming old. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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.jpg) Feast of San Isidro the Farmer (Madrid) (2025)The Feast of St. Isidore the Farmer is celebrated in Madrid, Spain, with eight days of bullfighting at the Plaza de Toros, colorful parades, and many artistic, cultural, and sporting events. Street vendors sell pictures of the saint, small glass or pottery bells believed to ward off harm from thunder and lightning, and whistle-stemmed glass roses, which provide a noisy accompaniment to the feasting and dancing that go on. The Festival of San Isidro is celebrated in other Spanish towns as well, particularly León and Alicante. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: plateassiette - A prepared dish of food, French for "plate, course of a meal." More... dish, plate - Dish is a more general term and plate is more specialized. More... plate - Etymologically, something "flat," from Latin plattus, "flat," and Greek platys, "broad." More... placard - Comes from French plaquier, "to plate; lay flat." More... | |