Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, July 15, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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languor
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using the Past Perfect Continuous for Past Durations of TimeWe can use the past perfect continuous tense to describe the duration of continuous past action. The meaning is very similar to the present perfect continuous tense in this way. However, whereas the present perfect continuous describes an action that was happening up until the present moment, the past perfect continuous highlights what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Baby HatchesIn medieval Europe, mothers unable to care for their babies could leave them in a foundling wheel, typically a revolving cylinder lodged in a church or orphanage wall. Today, many countries continue to offer mothers the ability to safely and anonymously abandon their babies in much the same way. Modern baby hatches consist of a door in a hospital's outer wall that opens onto an infant bed. When a baby is deposited, an alarm sounds, alerting caretakers. Why are some opposed to the hatch system? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Fire Ravages Rome's Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls (1823)In 1823, a worker repairing the roof of Rome's Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls accidentally started a fire that resulted in its almost total destruction. The church, built under Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, had retained its original character for nearly 1,500 years. Reconstruction work began almost immediately with the aim of recreating the original structure. The viceroy of Egypt contributed alabaster pillars to the rebuilding effort, while the Russian emperor sent what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jacques Derrida (1930)Derrida was an Algerian-born French philosopher whose critique of Western philosophy encompasses literature, linguistics, and psychoanalysis. In his famously dense and complex writings, he attempted to take apart, or "deconstruct," the edifice of Western metaphysics and reveal what he deemed its incompatible foundations. His thought is based on his disapproval of the search for an ultimate metaphysical certainty. Why was Derrida so controversial among many of his fellow philosophers? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Only ignorance! Only ignorance! How can you talk about only ignorance? Don't you know that it is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness?Anna Sewell (1820-1878) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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keep in step with the times— To be, strive to be, or appear to be contemporary, fashionable, and/or relevant in modern times. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Hakata Gion Yamagasa (2024)The Gion Matsuri at Kyoto is the model for several other Gion festivals in Japan, and the largest of these is the Gion Yamagasa Festival at Fukuoka. The elaborate floats for which the festival is famous are called yamagasa, and beautiful new dolls are made for them each year. The festival begins on July 1, when participants purify themselves by collecting sand from the seashore. The highlight of the festival occurs on the morning of July 15, when the Oiyama race is held. This is a five-kilometer race in which teams of 28 men run while carrying yamagasa, weighing about a ton. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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