Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, September 26, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Present Continuous TenseWe create the present continuous tense by using the present participle ("-ing" form) of the verb after the present-tense form of the auxiliary verb "be." We use the present continuous (also called the "present progressive") tense to speak about actions that are currently happening, whether generally or at the exact moment of speech. What else can it be used to describe? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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| This Day in History | |
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 MV Joola Disaster in Senegal (2002)Just 11 years ago, a Senegalese ferry capsized off the coast of Gambia, claiming more lives than the notorious Titanic disaster. At least 1,863 people died in the sinking of the MV Joola, making it one of the deadliest civilian maritime disasters in history. A number of factors likely contributed to the tragedy, including bad weather, overloading—the ferry was carrying more than triple the number of passengers it was designed to hold—and a delayed rescue effort. How many survived? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot (1888)Eliot was an American-British poet and critic and an immensely distinguished literary figure who, from the 1920s on, was the most influential English-language modernist poet. His early poems, such as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land," express the anguish and barrenness of modern life and the isolation of the individual. In his later poetry, he turned from spiritual desolation to hope for human salvation. What book by Eliot is the basis for the musical Cats? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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| Idiom of the Day | |
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spit (out) the dummy— To have a childish overreaction or angry outburst to a negative situation or outcome; to act in a bad-tempered manner, likened to a temper tantrum of a child. "Dummy" here refers to a plastic teat used to soothe teething infants (also called a "pacifier" in the U.S. or a "soother" elsewhere), which they may spit when in the middle of a tantrum. Primarily heard in Australia. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Birthday of Johnny Appleseed (2025)John Chapman—better known as Johnny Appleseed for his lifelong dedication to planting apple seedlings all over the American Midwest—was born on this day in 1774. While some frontier settlers thought he was a saint, or at the very least a religious fanatic, with his tin pot hat and coffee-sack tunic, the Native Americans regarded him as a great medicine man since he planted herbs as well as apples. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: wonderadmire - Can mean "to wonder at, to be slightly surprised." More... marvel - Traces to Latin mirabilia, from mirari, "wonder at." More... nine days' wonder - An old term (c. 1325) for an event or phenomenon that attracts enthusiastic interest for a short while, but is then ignored or forgotten. More... Wonder Bread - Got its name from a vice president who watched a hot-air balloon race shortly before the bread needed a name—"wonder" is how he described the event and then the bread. More... | |