Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, November 22, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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expunge
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Nouns of AddressNouns of address (also known as vocatives, nominatives of address, or nouns of direct address) identify the person or group being directly spoken to. Like interjections, they are grammatically unrelated to the rest of the sentence—that is, they don’t modify or affect any other part of it. Instead, they are used to let the listener or reader know who you are addressing, or to do what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Town and Gown"Town and gown" is a phrase used to describe the two distinct communities of a university town: the non-academic "town" community and the university "gown" community. Since the establishment of universities in the Middle Ages, when students enjoyed certain privileges due to their ties with the clergy, the relationship between universities and their surrounding communities has often been a source of tension. What university was established after a fight between townspeople and Oxford scholars? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Blackbeard Killed in Battle with Royal Navy (1718)Before turning to piracy, Blackbeard, whose real name was probably Edward Teach, likely worked as a privateer in the War of the Spanish Succession. While marauding in the West Indies and along the Atlantic coast, Blackbeard enjoyed the protection of North Carolina's governor—who partook of the booty. A British naval force eventually killed Blackbeard and took his head back to England as proof. Legend has since romanticized the notoriously cruel pirate. When was his wrecked ship rediscovered? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Charles de Gaulle (1890)De Gaulle was a French general and statesman. He left France after it fell to the Germans in WWII and started the Free French movement in England. He returned to France after the liberation of Paris and headed two provisional governments before resigning in 1946. When an insurrection in Algeria threatened to bring civil war to France, he returned to government, helped establish the Fifth Republic, and became its first president in 1958. What was his role in the "Empty Chair Crisis"? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Men have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature; and the error is ineradicable.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Cecilia's Day (2023)According to her apocryphal acts, which date from the fifth century, St. Cecilia was a Roman from a noble family who was put to death for her Christian beliefs; how she became the patron saint of music and musicians is not exactly known. In 1683, a musical society was formed in London especially for the celebration of St. Cecilia's Day. It held a festival each year at which a special ode was sung. The poet John Dryden composed his "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day" in 1687 for this purpose. There are still many choirs and musical societies that bear her name today. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: keyboardfallboard - The hinged protective covering that protects the keyboard of a piano when it is not being played. More... finger board - The part of a stringed instrument against which the fingers press the strings to vary the tone—as well as the keyboard of a piano, organ, etc. More... home key - The home key is either of two keys on a keyboard acting as the base position for one's fingers in touch-typing (left F, right J). More... octothorpe - The pound key on a keyboard or keypad is technically an octothorpe. More... | |