Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, November 1, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Noun AdjunctsNoun adjuncts are nouns that are used to modify other nouns. What is the resulting phrase called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Third Servile WarThe Servile Wars were three slave uprisings—the last of which was led by the gladiator Spartacus—that took place in the later years of the Roman Republic. With a force of 90,000 gladiators, slaves, and peasants, Spartacus overran most of southern Italy in 73 BCE. He led his army north, hoping to release them to find freedom, but they refused to abandon their campaign. After Spartacus was killed in battle, the revolt was cruelly put down by Crassus and Pompey. How were the survivors punished? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Shakespeare's Othello Performed for the First Time (1604)First performed at London's Whitehall Palace, Shakespeare's Othello—a timeless story of jealousy, betrayal, and racism—is still studied and debated today. The play is likely an adaptation of a short story by Italian writer Cinthio called "Un Capitano Moro" and may have been inspired by certain events of the day—such as the arrival of a Moorish delegation in London in 1600. In Shakespeare's tale, the protagonist strangles his wife, but in Cinthio's story, she is killed in what brutal way? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Grantland Rice (1880)Born in Tennessee, Rice began his career as a reporter with the Nashville News in 1901 before moving to New York. There, he became known as the "Dean of American Sportswriters." For decades, he was in charge of selecting the All-American football team for Collier's magazine. In his widely syndicated column, "The Sportlight," Rice coined some of sports' most memorable phrases. What famous quote about winning and losing is derived from one of Rice's poems? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There are only two styles of portrait painting, the serious and the smirk.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a cat nap— A very brief but restful period of sleep. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Algeria National Day (Anniversary of the Revolution) (2025)This national holiday, also known as Revolution Day, commemorates the day in 1954 Algerians began their revolution against the French, who had ruled since 1830. Huge crowds of people celebrate in the capital city of Algiers on the Mediterranean coast. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: inhabitantinfernal - An inhabitant of the underworld can be called an infernal. More... sherpa - Literally means "inhabitant of an eastern country." More... aborigine - From Classical Latin meaning "ancestors," it was spelled with a capital A as the name of the primeval Romans; the first people called aborigines were the original inhabitants of Italy and Greece and aborigine was specifically applied to the inhabitants of a country ab origine, "from the beginning." More... sylvans - Natives or inhabitants of forests or woods. More... | |