Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, November 11, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Modal Auxiliary VerbsA modal auxiliary verb is used to change the meaning of other verbs by expressing modality—that is, asserting (or denying) possibility, likelihood, ability, permission, obligation, or future intention. What are modal verbs unable to do? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 AerosansUsed by the Soviet Red Army during the Winter War and World War II, the aerosan is a type of propeller-powered snowmobile that runs on skis. First developed early in the 20th century, aerosans were valued for their high mobility in deep snow and on frozen water bodies and came to be used for a number of functions, including communications, mail deliveries, medical aid, and border patrolling in northern Russia. Some of the first aerosans may have been built by what famous aircraft designer? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Kaprun Disaster Leaves 155 Dead (2000)High above the Austrian ski resort of Kaprun, a funicular railway car carrying over 160 people to a glacier caught fire after a defective heater ignited hydraulic brake fluid in the rear of the car. Only partway through a 2-mi (3.2-km) tunnel, the car came to a sudden halt. As the fire grew, the passengers were plunged into darkness and trapped behind inoperable doors. Almost all who managed to escape the burning car suffocated in the tunnel. How did the 12 survivors manage to escape to safety? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Daisy Lee Gatson Bates (1914)Bates was a key figure in the integration of public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. The publisher of a newspaper, Bates began publicizing civil rights issues in the early 1940s. In 1957, when the Little Rock School Board chose nine black students to integrate the local high school, Bates organized the group's activities amid mob violence so intense that the students could only enter the school under military guard. On what national holiday is Daisy Gatson Bates Day observed in Arkansas? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.James Madison (1751-1836) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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speak of the devil, and he shall appear— An acknowledgment of a person who has arrived just as or after he or she was being discussed. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Polish Independence Day (2025)This national holiday commemorates the re-creation of the state of Poland at the end of World War I. On November 11, 1918, Poland was granted independence after having been partitioned under the rule of Prussia, Austria, and Russia for more than 100 years. After the Soviet system took over the country, the holiday was abolished. But in 1989, after the Communist government fell, Independence Day was once again a national holiday. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: lighterdinner, supper - Dinner is the main meal of the day; supper is the last meal of the day and lighter than dinner. More... short crust - Lighter and crispier than regular pastry crust. More... spring roll - Smaller than egg rolls, they traditionally have a lighter, more delicate pastry wrap. More... etiolate - Become whiter or lighter, especially by not getting enough light. More... | |