Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, June 28, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the CommaThe comma ( , ) is one of the most commonly used punctuation marks in English. Generally speaking, commas are used to connect two or more elements in a sentence, but the way in which they do this varies widely, depending on what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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| This Day in History | |
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 Romania Cedes Bessarabia to the USSR (1940)After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the region of Bessarabia declared its independence and voted to unite with Romania. The Soviet Union never recognized Romania's right to the province and, in 1940, demanded that it cede Bessarabia. When Romania complied, the USSR set up the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and incorporated the northern region into the Ukrainian SSR. Bessarabia remained divided after Ukraine and Moldavia declared independence in 1991. Where did the region get its name? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Melvin Kaminsky, AKA Mel Brooks (1926)Brooks is an American film director, writer, actor, and producer best known for his wild parodies that mix satire with slapstick. He started out as a television comedy writer but soon turned to film. He won an Oscar for his first feature film, The Producers (1968), a comic masterpiece of bad taste, and followed it with such films as the Western-inspired Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, a parody of the horror genre. Who speaks the only word in his Silent Movie? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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| Idiom of the Day | |
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salty dog— A sailor, especially a man, who is older and/or has had a lot of experience on the seas. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Montreal Jazz Festival (2017)What has been called the most important cultural event in Canada and the largest jazz festival in the world, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal has attracted some of the greatest names in jazz—including Miles Davis, Ray Charles, and Dizzy Gillespie. More than a million people come to the festival, about one-fourth of them from outside Montreal. Montreal's streets are closed for the 11 days of the festival to make room for the outdoor performances, which take place rain or shine, and represent a mix of traditional, modern, and innovative jazz. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: securityhostage - First referred to the state of someone handed over as a pledge or security (for the fulfillment of an undertaking). More... policy - Meaning "insurance document," it is from a French word meaning "certificate, contract," from an earlier Latin word meaning "a receipt or security for money paid." More... impignorate, pignorate - To impignorate or pignorate means to put up as security or to pawn. More... wage, wager - Wage once meant "pledge, security" and wager was defined as "solemn pledge" or "undertaking," from French wagier, "to pledge." More... | |