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Wednesday, May 15, 2024 | View Archive ?
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Word of the Day

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escritoire

Definition: (noun) A writing table; a desk.
Synonyms:secretaire, writing table, secretary
Usage:In the large shining mahogany escritoire Mr. Osborne had a drawer especially devoted to his son's affairs and papers. Discuss. Play

Daily Grammar Lesson

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Emphasizing Duration with the Present Perfect Continuous

The present perfect continuous is especially useful for putting emphasis on the length of time that has passed while something is happening. What is the present perfect continuous verb in the following sentence? "They have been studying for three weeks for this exam." More... Discuss

Article of the Day

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The Pazzi Conspiracy

In the late 1400s, Pope Sixtus IV, his nephew Gerolamo Riario, Archbishop Salviati, and members of the wealthy Pazzi family hatched a plot to assassinate Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici. The Pazzi and Medici families were rivals, but the Pazzis were merely tools in the conspiracy, which aimed to increase Riario's power in Florence. On April 26, 1478, while attending High Mass at the Duomo, Giuliano was stabbed to death. What happened to Lorenzo? More... Discuss

This Day in History

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US Supreme Court Declares Standard Oil an "Unreasonable" Monopoly (1911)

By 1880, through elimination of competitors, mergers, and railroad rebates, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil controlled the refining of up to 95 percent of all oil produced in the US. In 1892, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the trust dissolved, but it continued to operate. Exposed in Ida Tarbell's History of the Standard Oil Company in 1904, it was broken up in 1911 after a lengthy antitrust suit by the US government. What current oil companies have ties to the former Standard Oil? More... Discuss

Today's Birthday

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L. Frank Baum (1856)

Baum was an American author of more than 70 children's books who is best known for penning The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He moved from New York to South Dakota in 1888. When his newspaper there failed, he moved to Illinois and found work as a journalist. His first children's book, Mother Goose in Prose (1897), was followed by Father Goose: His Book, an immediate bestseller. In 2006, Baum's descendants apologized for editorials in which he called for the extermination of whom? More... Discuss

Quotation of the Day

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A sudden, bold, and unexpected question, doth many times surprise a man, and lay him open.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Discuss

Mismatch
Select word:
illegitimately
wholesale
unambitiously
unwittingly
unsystematically
consistently
knowingly
lawfully
retail
determinedly

Match each word in the left column with its antonym (opposite) on the right. When finished, click Answer to see the results. Good luck!

 

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Hangman

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Grammar Quiz

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Which of the following is not one of the five most commonly used relative pronouns?

Spelling Bee
Difficulty level:
n. A muscle with two heads or points of origin
Spell the word:

Match Up

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Select word:
benignant
rueful
quondam
live-bearing
antitrust
antimonopoly
viviparous
gracious
contrite
one-time

Match each word in the left column with its synonym on the right. When finished, click Answer to see the results. Good luck!

 

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Today's Holiday

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St. Dymphna's Day

According to legend, St. Dymphna fled with her priest to Geel, Belgium to escape her pagan father's demand for an incestuous marriage. St. Dymphna came to be known as the patron saint of the insane, and for centuries mental patients were brought to the site of her relics in Geel. Today there is a large, well-equipped sanatorium for the mentally ill in Geel. On May 15 special church services are held and a religious procession moves through the streets carrying a stone from St. Dymphna's alleged tomb—a relic that at one time was applied to patients as part of their therapy. More... Discuss

Horoscope

Idiom of the Day

get in the last word

— To express the final point or opinion in an argument or discussion, especially in a way that decisively or conclusively ends it. More... Discuss