Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, December 21, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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vitriolic
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Semi-Modal Auxiliary VerbsSemi-modal auxiliary verbs, often simply called semi-modal verbs, are verbs that sometimes behave like modal auxiliary verbs. What four verbs are widely considered the standard set of semi-modal verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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.jpg) The Forty-EightersIn 1848, Europe was in tumult. After two years of severe crop failures, French revolutionaries overthrew the monarchy, touching off a series of revolutions across the continent. However, the revolts ended in failure and repression, prompting waves of disappointed supporters—some of whom were now deemed enemies of the state—to immigrate to the US, Canada, and England. As these "Forty-Eighters" maintained their liberal ideals upon relocating, many went on to participate in what major US conflict? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Marie and Pierre Curie Discover Radium (1898)Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie were working with pitchblende, a heavy mineral known to contain the radioactive element uranium, when they noticed something unusual. Somehow, the pitchblende was more radioactive than the uranium it contained. The culprit was radium, a previously unknown element present in pitchblende only in trace amounts—yet more than a million times more radioactive than uranium. What common household products contained radium until it was discovered to be dangerous? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Cicely Isabel Fairfield, AKA Dame Rebecca West (1892)One of the most highly regarded British prose writers of the 20th century, West began her career as a journalist for feminist and suffragist publications. She then served as a literary critic and political writer for American and British journals. Her admired reports on the Nuremberg Trials were collected in A Train of Powder, and her history of Yugoslavia, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, is a classic work of travel literature. Why did West have to be evacuated from her home in 1980? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Do you know why this world is as bad as it is? ... It is because people think only about their own business, and won't trouble themselves to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrongdoer to light.Anna Sewell (1820-1878) | |
| 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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 National Homeless Persons' Remembrance Day (2025)Since 1990, the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council have sponsored this day to bring attention to the plight of the nation's homeless population and to encourage the public to act on their behalf. Local groups across the country are encouraged to arrange a ceremony to remember the homeless persons in their community who died in the previous year. Candlelight marches, vigils, graveside services, religious services, and public policy advocacy are suggested ways of remembering. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: rabbitsbuck teeth - Large front teeth protruding over the others; the phrase may come from buck, the adult male of some animals, such as rabbits—which have this type of front teeth. More... hightail it - Refers to animals, such as mustangs and rabbits, that raise their tails high when fleeing danger. More... trattles - The rounded droppings of animals like rabbits and sheep. More... angora - As in cat, goat, and rabbit, it comes from the Turkish capital Angora (till 1930), now Ankara. More... | |