Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, September 9, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Creating the Subjunctive MoodOne of the most straightforward ways of using the subjunctive mood is when we want to describe a wish for something to be different than it is or was. When we express wishes, we create the subjunctive mood by moving the main verb of the sentence one tense back in the past. To convey a wish about a situation in the present, what tense would we use? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Robot JockeysCamel racing has been a popular sport in the Arab world for thousands of years, however, this "Sport of Sheiks" has recently earned condemnation from human rights groups for its almost exclusive use of child jockeys, usually boys around the age of four, who are sold to race organizers or camel owners and starved to reduce their weight. In response, nations such as Qatar have banned the use of child jockeys and replaced them with robots developed by a Swiss robotics firm. How do they work? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Elvis Presley Appears on The Ed Sullivan Show (1956)Presley was one of the 20th century's most popular American singers. His first national television appearance was in 1955 on Jackie Gleason's Stage Show, but it was his 1956 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that made him a national sensation. His pelvic gyrations caused a scandal but earned him thousands of adoring, often female, fans. That same year he released his first million-selling single, "Heartbreak Hotel," and starred in the first of his 33 movies, which was what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Otis Redding (1941)Redding, an American soul singer known for his emotive style, began his career with Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers and recorded his first hit, "These Arms of Mine," during time left over at the end of a Johnny Jenkins session. His biggest hit, "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," was recorded just days before he died in a plane crash at age 26. It became the first posthumous number-one single. What are some different explanations for why Redding whistles at the end of the song? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There are two things that men should never weary of, goodness and humility; we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people.Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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scare (someone) silly— To shock or frighten someone very suddenly and/or severely. Hyperbolically alludes to frightening someone so severely as to cause them to lose their mind. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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.svg.png) Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Father Laval (2025)This annual pilgrimage is made by thousands of people of all faiths to the shrine of Roman Catholic priest Père Jacques Désiré Laval in Port Louis, Mauritius. Father Laval came to Mauritius in 1841 and devoted himself to the spiritual improvement of the emancipated slaves until his death in 1864. The pilgrimage is held on the day of his death. It originated on the day Laval was buried, when more than 30,000 weeping people followed his bier as he was taken for burial opposite the Ste. Croix Church. A monument to him is there today, and many masses are celebrated at the shrine on the memorial day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: objectivelimited war - A war whose objective is of smaller scope than total defeat of the enemy. More... institution - First a noun of action or process that became a general and abstract noun describing something objective and systematic. More... purposely, purposefully - Purposely means "intentionally, on purpose," while purposefully means "with a specific purpose or objective in mind." More... safe, secure - Safe and secure, now nearly synonymous, used to be more different; secure was subjective—man's own sense of the absence of danger—while safe was objective, the fact of such absence of danger. More... | |