Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, September 18, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming the Zero ConditionalA zero conditional sentence uses the present simple tense to talk about what is always or generally true. It is classified as a conditional because it creates a hypothetical situation to describe what would be true each time something happens. What is the general structure for the zero conditional? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 LeviathanIn the Old Testament, there are five references to the leviathan—described by commentators as a massive sea creature, presumably a crocodile, whale, or dragon. Parallels have been drawn between these Biblical references and an ancient Babylonian creation story in which the goddess of chaos and creation, Tiamat, is slain and the two halves of her corpse are used to form the earth and sky. According to Jewish tradition, God created a male and female leviathan but then killed the female. Why? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Issue of the New-York Daily Times, now The New York Times, Is Printed (1851)Originally sold for a penny a copy, the New-York Daily Times was founded by journalist and politician Henry Jarvis Raymond in 1851 and has been controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family since 1896. The paper shortened its name to The New York Times in 1857. Perhaps the most respected newspaper in the world, it has been awarded more Pulitzer Prizes than any other. In 2006, the newspaper announced that it would save how much money by narrowing its page width by 1.5 inches (4 cm)? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (1819)Foucault, a French physicist, invented the Foucault pendulum and used it to provide experimental proof that the Earth rotates on its axis. He improved astronomical instruments, especially the telescope, and with Armand Fizeau took the first clear photograph of the Sun. Foucault is also known for determining the speed of light with extreme accuracy and showing that light travels slower in water than in air. He had originally studied medicine but abandoned it for physics due to a fear of what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Let's not borrow trouble ... The rate of interest is too high.Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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silver surfer— An elderly person who is a proficient user of the internet. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Almabtrieb (2025)The Return from the Mountain Pasture is an autumn festival that takes place around Salzburg, Austria, and other areas in the German Alps on the day that the cattle are driven down from the mountain pastures to their winter shelter. The cattle are decorated with flowers, and the Sennerinnen, or herding girls, who lead them wear traditional costumes that vary from place to place. Once the cattle are safely in for the winter, the farmers hold welcome-home feasts that are followed by music, dancing, and singing. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: vowdrawing the nail - Means absolving oneself of a vow. More... vum - To swear or vow. More... votal - Means "associated with or having the nature of a vow." More... vote - From Latin votum, "vow, wish," which was its original meaning in English. The word had a number of meanings—now obsolete—before it took on the sense (in the 15th century) of "a formal expression of one's opinion or approval or disapproval of a matter, especially a candidate, motion, or proposal." More... | |