Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, August 30, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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conjuration
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Periods with Quotation MarksIf a sentence uses quotation marks to indicate something that another person has said, and the quotation marks appear at the end of the sentence, the period can appear in one of two places. In American English, the punctuation used at the end of direct speech always appears within the quotation marks. However, in British English, where are periods that end quotations usually placed? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Alien Hand SyndromeNormally, the two sides of the brain are able to coordinate both sides of the body by communicating. When the connection between them is damaged—such as during surgery or a stroke—alien hand syndrome can result. The rare neurological disorder causes one of the patient's hands to appear to have a mind of its own. The hand performs inexplicable tasks, sometimes undoing what the other has done, without the patient's conscious control. What household item can reduce symptoms when placed on the hand? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Thurgood Marshall Confirmed as First African-American US Supreme Court Justice (1967)The great-grandson of a slave and the first African American to serve on the US Supreme Court, Marshall was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of the Civil Rights movement. As a lawyer, he won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education and others that established equal protection for African Americans in housing, voting, employment, and education. What church has included Marshall in its calendar of saints? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Muriel Ellen Deason, AKA Kitty Wells (1919)Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Wells sang gospel music in church as a child and performed on radio in the 1930s. She achieved fame with her 1952 hit, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," a rebuttal to a popular song about wayward women. It made her the first female musician to top the country music charts, paving the way for later female country stars such as Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline. She sang about topics such as drinking and divorce. How did radio stations react to her first hit? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 You have such strong words at command, that they make the smallest argument seem formidable.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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ripen up— To grow ripe; to become mature enough to harvest or pick. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Flower Festival of St. Rose (2025)On the island of St. Lucia, two floral societies known as the Roses and the Marguerites pay tribute to their namesake flowers as well as their patron saints: Rose of Lima and Margaret Mary Alacoque. In an intensive process of preparing for the two fêtes, the they each hold a series of dress rehearsals known as séances. The feast day then opens with a church service, which is followed by a street procession presenting the host society's royal entourage. The evening program includes a banquet, the much-awaited performance by the shantwel, and folk dances. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: operaopera - Actually the Latin plural of opus, "labor, work." More... prima donna - Meaning "principal female singer in an opera," it is from the same Italian phrase meaning "first lady"; the meaning "temperamental person" was first recorded in 1834. More... primo vomo - The principal male singer in an opera. More... soap opera - Goes back (1939) to the early days of radio suspense serials, which were mainly sponsored by soap-makers; the "opera" part is an echo of the earlier "horse opera"—a Western (1927). More... | |