Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, October 5, 2024)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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quaternary
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using the Present Continuous Tense with "Always"There is a special usage when the adverb "always" is used between "be" and the present participle. Rather than literally meaning that the action always happens (as you might expect), it instead means that that action very often happens. What else does this construction convey? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Electron MicroscopesProducing images of specimens magnified to about 2 million times their natural size—compared to just 2,000 for common light microscopes—electron microscopes use electron beams to resolve the minute structural details present in samples. An integral part of many laboratories, electron microscopes are used by researchers to examine biological materials, such as microorganisms, cells, and medical biopsy samples. Why are samples sometimes coated with gold before they are magnified? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus Airs on BBC (1969)A highly influential British sketch comedy show, Monty Python's Flying Circus ran until 1974 and subsequently spawned four movies and several live shows. With scenes such as "The Dead Parrot Sketch" and "The Spanish Inquisition," the innovative, disjointed, non-traditional show became a cult favorite noted for its surreal, sarcastic, innuendo-laden humor. Interspersed throughout the show were Terry Gilliam's iconic animations, including a giant, crushing foot taken from what painting? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Larry Fine (1902)Fine was just a toddler when his left arm was badly burned by acid used in his father's Philadelphia jewelry store. To help strengthen his damaged arm, Fine learned to play violin, which led him to a career in vaudeville. In the 1920s, he joined the comedy act that would become The Three Stooges, catapulting him—and his trademark unruly hair—to fame in several feature films and hundreds of shorts. As a young man, what else did he do to strengthen his arm until his father made him stop? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Men become old, but they never become good.Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a people person— Someone who is particularly gregarious, affable, or outgoing; someone with great interpersonal communication skills. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Portugal Republic Day (2025)This national holiday commemorates the establishment of the Portuguese Republic on this day in 1910, which ended over two centuries of the monarchical rule of the Portuguese royal family, the House of Braganca. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: modecomportment, deportment - Deportment adds the sense of action or activity to a mode of conduct or behavior; comportment, "behavior or bearing," does not have this. More... dictionary - Based on Latin dictio(n-), "mode of expression" or "word," then dictionarius, "a repertory of words or phrases." More... diet - Comes from Greek diaita, "a way of life, mode of living." More... mode - Originally a tune or air and later a scheme of sounds. More... | |