Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, May 2, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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embellish
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining MitigatorsMitigators, a subset of adverbs of degree, are adverbs or adverbials that modify adjectives and adverbs to reduce their intensity, making them seem less extreme or powerful. "Slightly" is an example of a mitigator. What are some others? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Fernando PessoaPessoa was a Portuguese poet and literary critic famous for having written under more than 70 different names. Four of these—his own, Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, and Álvaro de Campos—are well known. Each of his personas, or "heteronyms," has a putative biography and a distinct poetic voice. Many of his heteronyms had relationships with each other. Only after his death at age 47 did the rich world of his poetry become known. How old was he when he created his first heteronym? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Battle of Alcatraz Begins (1946)The Battle of Alcatraz followed an escape attempt from Alcatraz Island's federal penitentiary by six inmates who got stuck inside a cellhouse after failing to secure a key to the prison yard. Trapped, the inmates took the guards prisoner and took control of the cellhouse. The US Marines were called in, and two guards and three inmates died in the ensuing confrontation. Two inmates were later executed for their role in the incident. How long was it before the next attempted escape from Alcatraz? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Yongle Emperor (1360)Born Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor was the favorite son of the founder of China's Ming dynasty. He spent his youth developing a military career but was passed over for the throne. He rebelled and seized the throne from his nephew in 1402. As emperor, he greatly extended China's scope and influence. He moved the capital to Beijing, built the Forbidden City, and sponsored the compilation of an immense encyclopedia of Chinese culture and history. What was the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 He would always feel for her that impersonal admiration which is inspired by anything very large, like the Empire State Building or the Grand Canyon of Arizona.P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have (some/any) qualms about (something or someone)— To have some or certain hesitations, apprehensions, uneasiness, or pangs of conscience (about something or someone). (Also often used in the negative to mean the opposite.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Festival of Sant' Efisio (2025)The Sagra di Sant' Efisio at Cagliari, in Sardinia, Italy, commemorates the martyrdom of a 3rd-century Roman general who was converted to Christianity and credited with saving the town from the plague. On May 1, a procession accompanies a statue of St. Efisio through the streets of Cagliari to the church of Pula, the town where he suffered martyrdom. Three days later, the statue returns to Cagliari. Several thousand pilgrims, wearing costumes that date from the 17th century and earlier, take part in the procession, which culminates in a parade down Cagliari's main avenue. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: nimbleagile - Means having quick motion and being nimble, from Latin agere, "to do." More... flippant - Once meant "flexible, nimble, pliant." More... chopsticks - In Chinese, the word for chopsticks originally meant "quick sticks" or "nimble ones." More... wieldy - Means "easily controlled or handled," and once meant "agile, nimble." More... | |