Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, July 3, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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despondent
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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ConjugationConjugation refers to the way we inflect (change the form of) verbs to create particular meanings. What is grammatical tense? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 British East India CompanyChartered by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, the British East India Company was founded to break the Dutch monopoly on the spice trade. It gradually acquired unequalled trade privileges in India, reaping huge profits. Guarding against foreign and domestic competition, it began to intervene in Indian politics, sometimes with military force. The British government came to increasingly control the company. What prompted the government to finally take over the company—and India—in 1858? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Hugh Capet Crowned King of France (987)Capet was the son of Hugh the Great, to whose vast territories he succeeded in 956. After the death of Louis V, the last Carolingian king of France, the nobles and prelates elected Capet king—setting aside the last Carolingian claimant, Charles I, who proceeded to fight Capet through most of his reign. Capet ruled France from 987 to 996 and was succeeded by his son, whom he had crowned in 987 to secure the succession. Today, members of the Capetian dynasty are heads of state in what countries? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Franz Kafka (1883)Despite the fact that he published only a few short works during his lifetime, Kafka is regarded as one of the most influential 20th-century writers. In prose remarkable for its clarity and precision, Kafka presents a world that is at once real and dreamlike and in which individuals burdened with guilt, isolation, and anxiety make a futile search for personal salvation. What virtually insurmountable difficulties do translators face when converting Kafka's works from German into English? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a (real) frog-choker— A particularly heavy or torrential downpour of rain. (Chiefly heard in the southern United States.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Dog Days (2022)The Dog Days are known as the hottest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and usually occur in July and early August. In ancient times, the sultry weather in Rome during these months often made people sick, which they blamed on the fact that this was when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose at about the same time as the sun. There are many different ways of calculating which days in any given year are the dog days, but it is impossible to be precise; nowadays it is generally assumed that they fall between July 3 and August 11—slightly later than they occurred in ancient times. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: heelssparable - A headless nail used for soles and heels of shoes. More... recalcitrant - Comes from Latin recalcitrare, "kick out with the heels," from calx, "heel." More... heel - The crusty ends of a loaf of bread are its heels. More... Dog Star - Named for its appearing to follow at the heels of Orion the hunter. More... | |