Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, July 12, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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flinty
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Reporting VerbsIn reported speech, we use reporting verbs to introduce the information that was spoken previously. The most common so-called "reporting verbs" are "say" and "tell." When we use "tell," what else do we need to use? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SandboardingSandboarding is a sport similar to snowboarding, except that instead of sliding down the side of a snowy mountain, participants slide down sand dunes—some of which can be hundreds of feet high. For practical reasons, it is most prevalent in desert or coastal regions, and several sandboarding competitions and championships are held around the world. One significant drawback to boarding on sand instead of snow is that, unlike on mountains, dune riders do not have what convenience? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 King Henry VIII of England Marries Sixth and Last Wife, Catherine Parr (1543)By 1543, Henry VIII had had five marriages, which respectively ended in one divorce, one annulment, and three deaths—two by beheading. He then married Parr, his sixth and final wife. She had a good influence on the increasingly paranoid king—her third husband—and developed close friendships with his children, even acting as guardian of one of Henry's daughters after his death in 1547. Why, then, did Parr send her beloved stepdaughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I, away the next year? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Oscar Hammerstein II (1895)The grandson of an opera impresario of the same name, Hammerstein studied law before beginning the theater career that made him one of the foremost songwriters in the US. In the early 1940s, he began a prolific and successful collaboration with Richard Rodgers that resulted in plays like The King and I, The Sound of Music, and the Pulitzer Prize winners Oklahoma! and South Pacific. How did New York City honor Hammerstein following his death in August 1960? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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(one's) blood runs cold— One becomes seized by an acute and intense sensation of fear, panic, horror, or dread. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Kiribati Independence Day (2025)This island group in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was known as the Gilbert Islands until its independence from Britain on July 12, 1979. Independence Day is observed as a national holiday. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: platformlectern, podium, dais, rostrum - A lectern is the stand on which the speaker's notes are placed, the podium is the platform on which the speaker and lectern stand, a dais is a platform for several people, and a rostrum is a platform for one or more. More... pulpit - From classical Latin pulpitum, "platform, stage." More... hustings - Its early meaning of "platform" led to its sense of "any place from which campaign speeches are made" and "political campaigning." More... rostrum - Latin for "beak," it first referred to part of the Rome Forum decorated with bird beaks and used as a platform for speakers. More... | |