Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, July 3, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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despondent
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Identifying Indirect ObjectsAn indirect object is the person or thing who receives the direct object of the verb. Where do indirect objects appear in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 British East India CompanyChartered by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, the British East India Company was founded to break the Dutch monopoly on the spice trade. It gradually acquired unequalled trade privileges in India, reaping huge profits. Guarding against foreign and domestic competition, it began to intervene in Indian politics, sometimes with military force. The British government came to increasingly control the company. What prompted the government to finally take over the company—and India—in 1858? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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.jpg) Karl Benz Unveils His Patent Motorwagen (1886)Six months after applying for a patent for a three-wheeled horseless carriage driven by an internal combustion engine, Benz staged a public demonstration of the contraption in Mannheim, Germany. Widely regarded as the first automobile, the Benz Patent Motorwagen resembled a park bench on a giant tricycle and had a steering handle instead of the now-familiar wheel. It was only used for short jaunts until 1888, when Benz's wife took it for its first long-distance road trip. What was its top speed? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (1908)Raised in California, Fisher moved to Dijon, France, after her first marriage. There, she was inspired by the gastronomist Brillat-Savarin, and her 1949 translation of his Physiology of Taste is considered a classic. She created a new literary genre with her culinary writing, producing witty essays evoking the pleasures of life and food in a graceful style. Her books include How to Cook a Wolf and The Gastronomical Me. Where did Fisher spend her last 20 years? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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on opposite sides of the barricade(s)— Occupying conflicting, opposing, and/or contrary positions on some issue or in some situation. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Dog Days (2024)The Dog Days are known as the hottest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and usually occur in July and early August. In ancient times, the sultry weather in Rome during these months often made people sick, which they blamed on the fact that this was when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose at about the same time as the sun. There are many different ways of calculating which days in any given year are the dog days, but it is impossible to be precise; nowadays it is generally assumed that they fall between July 3 and August 11—slightly later than they occurred in ancient times. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: poorcacography - Bad handwriting or poor spelling. More... illegible, unreadable - Illegible refers to bad handwriting, while unreadable refers to poor writing. More... heterography, inorthography - Incorrect or poor spelling is heterography or inorthography. More... | |