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Word of the Day: whodunit

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Word of the Day: whodunit

The word whodunit has appeared in 38 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on April 6 in “‘White Lotus’ Audience Is Big, and Keeps Getting Bigger” by John Koblin:

Still, “The White Lotus” has also captured something rare in the binge-it-all-at-once streaming age: a whodunit that has drawn viewers into a week-to-week guessing game of who gets murdered and who shot the gun, akin to broadcast hits from an earlier era.

Can you correctly use the word whodunit in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how whodunit can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

Word of the Day: untenable

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Word of the Day: untenable

The word untenable has appeared in 290 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 27 in “Hollywood Has Not Recovered Jobs Lost During Strikes, Report Says” by Matt Stevens:

Experts and industry workers alike say that some combination of the pandemic, the strikes and the end of peak streaming have created an untenable situation for the workers who make up Hollywood’s middle class.

With such little work to go around over the last two years, writers, artists, set designers, camera operators and the many other people who power the industry have found side gigs or left Los Angeles entirely.

Can you correctly use the word untenable in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how untenable can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

Word of the Day: intransigent

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Word of the Day: intransigent

The word intransigent has appeared in 24 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on April 18 in “How to Haggle When There’s No Set Price” by Ruffin Prevost:

Be prepared to walk away. Ignore any emotional appeals and provocations: You’re under no obligation to buy. You might be surprised at how a polite “No, thank you” can elicit a final, rock-bottom price from a pushy or intransigent seller.

Can you correctly use the word intransigent in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how intransigent can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

175 Writing Prompts to Spark Discussion and Reflection

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175 Writing Prompts to Spark Discussion and Reflection

Each day of the school year we publish a Student Opinion question inviting students to share their own opinions and experiences in response to New York Times stories on the news of the day. To introduce each question, we provide an excerpt from a related Times article, interactive or video as well as a free link to that piece.

The 175 questions we asked during the 2024-25 school year are available below and in this PDF. The prompts are organized into three sections: questions that lend themselves well to persuasive writing, questions that encourage narrative writing, and additional forums.

Teachers can use these prompts to help students practice narrative and persuasive writing, start classroom debates and even spark conversation between students around the world via our comments section. For more ideas on how to use these Student Opinion prompts in your classroom, you might consult this comprehensive teacher’s guide, which includes practical strategies from a dozen educators.

Word of the Day: aqueous

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Word of the Day: aqueous

The word aqueous has appeared in four articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 2 in “At Lorna Simpson’s Show, a Constellation of Galactic and Human History” by Zoë Hopkins. The article is about an art exhibition:

Exuding a serene drama, Simpson’s paintings of meteorites are the most gripping part of the exhibition. The artist begins these with a surface of gesso-coated fiberglass, onto which she screenprints images of meteorites from various catalogs and archives. Finally, she adds layers of acrylic wash that accumulate on the surface, forming an iridescent atmospheric haze. Veiled by this aqueous spillage — textured by the rough grain of the silk-screening process — the meteorites in the paintings seem not entirely solid. Rather, they appear to be floating or falling through liquidity, softened by buoyancy.

Can you correctly use the word aqueous in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how aqueous can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

How Many Memorable Lines Can You Match Up With Their Novels?

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How Many Memorable Lines Can You Match Up With Their Novels?

Welcome to Literary Quotable Quotes, a quiz that challenges you to match a book’s memorable lines with its title. This week’s installment is focused on quotations from books that are about books, stories, reading and writing. In the five multiple-choice questions below, tap or click on the answer you think is correct. After the last question, you’ll find links to the books themselves if you want to get a copy and see that quotation in context.

Word of the Day: mycologist

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Word of the Day: mycologist

The word mycologist has appeared in six articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on April 16 in “Hunting the Wild Mushrooms of New York City” by Andy Newman. The article reports on some mushroom expeditions:

There were small growths “like Easter eggs” underneath a blanket of black fibers, she said. Ms. Jakob sent samples to a mycologist, who agreed that she had discovered a new species and helped her publish a paper describing it.

Mr. Crenson, a graphic designer, had a similar experience. In 2021, at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, he discovered a fungus that “looked a bit like chocolate chips sticking up out of a cookie,” he said. A mycologist later named it after him: Nemania ethancrensonii.

Can you correctly use the word mycologist in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how mycologist can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

What is Agentic AI? A Beginner’s Guide

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What is Agentic AI? A Beginner’s Guide

This blog was written by our friends at the data science and analytics platform KNIME. If you want to learn more about how to integrate generative AI into your data workflow using visual programming, join us on Wednesday, June 18 at 2 p.m. for a free Codecademy community event with KNIME. RSVP for the virtual event here. 

We’re at the tipping point of being able to use all of our data exactly when, where, and how we want to. Agentic AI could take us over it to deliver lasting value.

Making sense of all of our data has so far been surprisingly hard to do. Tucked into pockets across the organization, insights were limited, and action was based on the availability of human resources.

Marketers check lead generation and campaign data, sales managers track deals and sales cycles, finance teams examine profit and loss. But the moment you have questions that touch on data outside of your field, you often don’t know where to find it, who to ask, and how to access it. 

Learn something new for free

Agentic AI is making all our data much more broadly accessible so that we can get more value out of it. Imagine you had an “Ask me anything” AI agent for all marketing, sales, and customer-related data: Anytime you had a question on leads and customers, the agent would get you the answers. That’s because they have the “agency” to autonomously make decisions and act.

This article covers what agentic AI is, why it matters, and how beginners can start working with it. 

What is agentic AI?

Agentic AI refers to systems that can act autonomously to achieve a goal.

Unlike large language models (LLMs), which simply return a response to a prompt, AI agents can take that response and do something with it like fetch data, make a decision, generate a report, etc. Agentic systems can choose which actions or tools to use based on the current situation.

There are two main varieties of agents:

Agentic applications that interact directly with people: The “Ask me anything” agent is an example of an agent that interacts directly with you. You can ask questions like “Do we have customers in Prague? What’s our history with ABC Corporation? Which customers have attended more than three of our events?” And the AI agent selects the right tools and data sources behind the scenes to answer your questions.

Agentic services that run in the background, available as tools for other applications or agents: This could be an agent that autonomously triggers a series of emails to new leads based on their activities, like visiting your website, attending an event, or purchasing a subscription.

What are the key components of AI agents?

Agents are typically made up of a few key components:

  • Tools: Tools handle specific tasks like aggregating data or predicting events, etc.
  • Intelligent tools: An intelligent tool extends the functionality of a tool by incorporating a large language model (LLM). This allows it to understand context and perform tasks that involve language comprehension or generation. For example, an intelligent tool might summarize a document, or it could summarize the document and then use the summary to compose and send an email.
  • AI workflows: AI workflows are manually orchestrated steps that connect up multiple tools to accomplish more complex tasks. AI workflows orchestrate multiple components — including LLM models, APIs, and logic — to solve complex, multi-step tasks that go beyond what a single model or tool can handle alone. These AI workflows can be dynamically assembled by an agent. AI workflows can themselves often become tools used by other AI workflows within larger systems.
  • Agents: Agents are systems that select and use tools dynamically for each specific request. They decide autonomously which tools to use, delegating tasks to more specialized subagents, to accomplish increasingly complex goals.
  • Memory: An agent has access to all prior actions it has completed and feedback on those actions so it can adapt behavior or follow patterns based on prior experience. This helps refine the quality of agent decision-making and actions.

Why agentic AI matters

Language models have shown their ability to generate text, but businesses need solutions that drive decisions and action. Agentic systems, with their ability to reason independently and take action, bridge that gap.

Here are some examples of business challenges that can be solved with agentic systems.

  • Underutilized data: Organizations struggle to get value from all their data. Agentic systems can act as data workers that continuously analyze this data and surface insights.
  • Decision-making bottlenecks: In fast-paced markets, manual approval processes and delays in data analysis can create bottlenecks that reduce business agility. Agentic systems can automate complex decision-making and eliminate bottlenecks. 
  • Rising customer expectations: Customers want faster, more personalized services. Agentic systems can provide immediate responses based on comprehensive customer data analysis.

What you need to know to get started with agentic AI

To get started with agentic AI, you need to understand how tools, data, and logic flow together.

You’ll benefit from understanding:

Choose your learning path

You can build agentic systems in different environments:

Code-first route: Agent frameworks like LangChain, AutoGen (Microsoft), or Haystack enable you to build AI agents. As a beginner you’ll have to learn how to code first.

Visual route: Visual workflows give you an accessible and intuitive programming environment to construct AI agents in a manageable way. You design your AI and data processes visually, connecting up a logical sequence of operations to form a visual workflow. This makes it easier to track data flow, identify issues, and explain logic clearly.

How to try it yourself

Begin with simple workflows: a sentiment analyzer, a report generator, a customer lookup tool. Then link them. Let the agent decide which one to call, and when. Deploy it as a data app, service, or API. As you build more agents, they can call each other, share memory, and evolve into powerful multi-agent systems.

Agentic AI isn’t a far-off ambition — but an achievable next step.

Combatting the Stigma Around Loneliness

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Combatting the Stigma Around Loneliness

Loneliness is a natural human emotion, yet it remains one of the most stigmatised. This Loneliness Awareness Week (June 9-15), Alison is highlighting a free course designed to help develop connections – and open up conversations about this natural aspect of the human condition. 

The course, Guide to Wellbeing: From Loneliness to Connection, highlights how feelings of loneliness are Nature’s prompt to have our basic social needs met. “Loneliness is a natural human emotion – we are hardwired to need social connections. By talking about it, we can support ourselves and others,” says Marmalade Trust, the UK charity behind Loneliness Awareness Week, whose theme this year is reducing stigma.

Why Young People Are Feeling More Lonely

Did you know that young people are among the most likely to experience loneliness? A YouGov survey(1) found that 30% of millennials and 20% of Gen Zs say they ‘always’ or ‘often’ feel lonely. The ONS analysed the results of other studies and found that age 12 is the loneliest time for children, which coincides with the transition from primary to secondary school and the attendant disruption to friendships. 

The course explores different types of loneliness – short term or chronic – how to talk about it, and practical strategies for supporting anyone experiencing it. 

It opens by exploring the importance of social connection in the long-established ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’. It highlights how social isolation and loneliness affect all age groups, but especially young people, the elderly and those who are in a minority through race, disability or gender. Research by Age UK(2) found the over 75s are most likely to feel cut off from society, with over a million saying they go over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member while psychologist, author and autism advocate Jessica Penot (3) writes: “Every adult or adolescent client I work with that has autism struggles with profound loneliness and a sense of isolation.”

How to Start Conversations About Loneliness

A significant barrier to dealing with loneliness is the stigma that prohibits open conversation about it. Through case studies from Marmalade Trust, you will discover how to talk more openly about the natural need for social connection, and how to support those grappling with mental health and loneliness.

The course also provides effective strategies to overcome barriers to social connectedness in your own life, from practical tips to psychological insights. Could past experiences of rejection be hampering your ability to connect to others? Psychologist Dr Leslie Becker-Phelps, author of Bouncing Back from Rejection, explains what to do about that.

Connecting with Others: Support for Every Group

Guide to Wellbeing: From Loneliness to Connection examines how different groups of people can be supported through loneliness, whether it stems from a life event –  like leaving school or losing a loved one – or is more long-term. Dedicated sections focus on ways to improve social connections for the elderly, young people and individuals with autism.

Finally, the course explores the impact of chronic, long-term isolation on physical health and conversely, how building social connections can benefit wellbeing. It concludes with a look at loneliness as a matter of public health and ongoing initiatives to reduce its prevalence through community support. 

Packed with useful information, insights and strategies, this course is ideal for health professionals, caregivers, parents, teachers, and anyone looking to foster a greater sense of belonging – for themselves and others.

Ready to make a difference? Enrol in the ‘Guide to Wellbeing: From Loneliness to Connection’ today and take a vital step towards a more connected, fulfilling life for yourself and others.

  1. 1 https://today.yougov.com/topics/society/articles-reports/2019/07/30/loneliness-friendship-new-friends-poll-survey
  2. 2 https://www.ageuk.org.uk/cambridgeshireandpeterborough/about-us/news/articles/2022/mental-health-awareness/
  3. 3 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-forgotten-women/202303/the-problem-of-loneliness-for-people-with-autism 

Assessments: Identifying High-Potential Employees

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Assessments: Identifying High-Potential Employees

It is a truth universally acknowledged that organisations must invest in their people to enable growth.

Identifying and upskilling future leaders is central to achieving this.

According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report, organisations that fully embrace career-driven learning – just 36% of companies – are outpacing their peers in profitability, talent retention, and leadership development. It is important to be able to identify and upskill employees who are willing to take your organisation to the next level. These employees, when given the right opportunities, will flourish in leadership roles, thus putting your company ahead of the competition.

However, there is a challenge that may be faced. Just because a person excels in their current role doesn’t mean they will be a great leader in the future. High performance in a role doesn’t automatically translate into strong leadership potential. While great managers are often good performers, the skills that make someone excel in their job, like technical expertise or individual achievement, are not the same as those required for effective leadership, such as emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, and the ability to develop others.

Organisations should evaluate leadership competencies separately from performance metrics. By doing so, they can identify leadership talent across the entire workforce, not just among high achievers, and build a stronger, more balanced leadership pipeline.

What Makes an Employee “High-Potential”?

Prior to implementing these strategies, it is imperative to understand what your organisation considers to be “high-potential”.

According to a 2024 Harvard Business Review study, most organisations identify high-potential employees by three key characteristics:

  • Ability: Skills, knowledge, and potential for leadership, including vision, creativity, and learning agility.
  • Drive: Motivation, ambition, and work ethic to take on more responsibility and grow within the organisation.
  • Social Skills: Emotional intelligence, relationship-building, resilience under pressure, and alignment with company values.

High-potential employees are not just top performers; in fact, in some cases, they may not be high performers in their current role. These individuals are quick thinkers, problem solvers, and fast learners who do not shy away from difficult tasks. They are also strong communicators, proactive, comfortable with change, and excel when dealing with complexity and ambiguity.

Data is Essential for Identifying Leadership Qualities

Assessments allow employers to identify in their team members the qualities that are needed for leadership success. Unlike informal assessments or biased managerial decisions, these assessments are data-driven and offer insights into areas that are imperative for long-term success and organisational growth.

Here’s how organisations can get the most out of the various types of assessments to identify future leaders:

1. Critical Thinking Assessments

These assessments evaluate an employee’s ability to:

  • Analyse data
  • Solve problems
  • Critical thinking skills

Leadership roles often require that the person be able to manage the unknown, be able to make good decisions and be at the forefront of cutting-edge technology. Cognitive assessments measure whether a person is able to think critically and under pressure.

2. Personality and Behavioural Assessments

Understanding how someone behaves under pressure, works with others, or makes decisions is a key element in leadership development.

Popular tools assess:

  • Emotional intelligence
  • Risk tolerance
  • Communication style
  • Resilience
  • Leadership motivation

These insights help businesses identify who can lead with empathy, stay calm under pressure, and build high-functioning teams.

3. Leadership Competency Assessments

Leadership-focused tools measure specific competencies relevant to your organisation, such as:

  • Strategic vision
  • Influence and negotiation
  • People management
  • Ethical judgment
  • Change management

By comparing employee results to industry benchmarks or internal success profiles, companies can better predict who is likely to succeed in leadership roles.

Why Smaller Organisations Can’t Afford to Get Talent Decisions Wrong

The Case for Assessment-Driven Talent Identification

In large organisations, a poor leadership decision can often be absorbed. In smaller businesses, the ripple effects are far more immediate, impacting culture, revenue, productivity, morale, and attrition. That’s why incorporating assessments into your HR and talent strategies isn’t just beneficial – it’s vital.

Here’s how assessments deliver outsized value in smaller teams:

1. Objective Decision-Making

In leaner teams, subjectivity in hiring or promotion decisions can lead to costly misalignment. Assessments provide a consistent, bias-resistant framework that ensures talent decisions are based on skills, potential, and fit, not assumptions.

2. Stronger Succession Planning

Leadership gaps in smaller organisations can cause serious disruption. Assessments help identify who’s ready to step up and who’s aligned with the company’s values and strategic direction, allowing you to plan ahead, not react in crisis.

3. Smarter Development Investments

Smaller organisations often have limited L&D budgets. Assessments ensure those resources are used strategically by tailoring development plans to each employee’s real needs, maximising ROI, and avoiding wasted time or spend.

4. Improved Retention of Key Talent

Top performers want clarity, challenge, and growth. Assessment-backed development pathways show your best people they’re seen, valued, and invested in, boosting engagement and lowering the risk of costly turnover.

Utilising Assessments Effectively in Your Organisation

For these assessments to truly be effective, organisations should treat them as a critical component of an integrated talent strategy. Here are the best practices to guide your use of assessments:

1. Ensure That Assessments Align With Organisational Goals

What does leadership look like for your organisation? Do your future leaders need to be great at wearing different hats? Critical thinkers? Thrive under pressurised decision-making?

Think also of the culture you have today, and how you want it to develop over time. Workplace personality assessments will help you identify the non-competency based traits that are desirable in those caretaking your organisation’s identity.

Once clear, select assessment tools that measure those exact qualities.

2. Combine With Other Performance Data

Assessment insights should complement – not replace – existing performance metrics such as manager feedback and employee self-evaluations. A holistic view leads to stronger, more defensible talent decisions.

3. Incorporate into a Leadership Development Program

Assessment results are most effective when they lead to action. Use these insights to shape a Leadership Development Program by providing personalised feedback, assigning targeted courses to address skill gaps, and offering mentoring or leadership opportunities. Notably, 86% of companies with structured soft-skills development programs can respond rapidly to unpredictable business environments

4. Evaluate and Iterate

The organisational landscape is ever changing – and so should your assessment approach. You should review the effectiveness of your tools to ensure that they still meet your organisation’s needs. Are they helping your team reach development milestones? Do your assessments still align with leadership success within the organisation?

How Top Companies Use Assessments

Organisations across various industries are seeing real ROI from assessment-driven strategies:

  • PepsiCo implemented psychometric testing to identify future general managers and reduced external leadership hires by 40%.
  • Nestlé uses a combination of 360-degree feedback, cognitive assessments, and leadership simulations to empower future leaders.
  • Unilever overhauled its graduate program with AI-driven assessments, increasing diversity and hiring quality simultaneously.

How Alison Can Support Your Leadership Development Strategy

Alison’s LMS+ includes a Psychometrics Assessment Suite, which includes:

Aptitude Tests

These cover three major areas: numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and abstract reasoning. These focus areas were designed to ensure that a person’s skills are fully evaluated: problem solving, comprehension and analytical skills.

Workplace Personality Assessments

Personality assessments make it easier to understand their behavioural traits, communication styles, and what motivates them to ensure your teams are always on top of their game.

English Language Test

For companies wanting to hire remote staff from around the world, infiltrating new markets, or managing multicultural teams, English proficiency may be a key competency to look for.

Once you’ve gathered this data, we offer a wide range of free online courses that assist leadership development at every stage – from foundational soft skills to advanced management skills. Organisations can use Alison’s LMS+ to:

  • Upskill high-potential employees based on their assessment outcomes
  • Offer ongoing learning pathways for emerging leaders
  • Measure the team’s progress with group management tools

Our learning ecosystem works in unison with assessment frameworks, making it easy to provide personalised development at scale. Once a team member’s results are in, all you need to do is select from the course recommendations provided to create a customised learning plan for their specific needs.

Some of our most popular leadership-focused courses include:

With Alison in your corner, you can empower your workforce with the skills and knowledge they need to turn potential into performance – even without a hefty training budget.

It is imperative that you recognise and develop future leaders. Having the right assessment tools in place is one sure way that organisations can cut through the guesswork and bias, identify hidden talent, and make calculated decisions that build long-term value.

Assessments that are paired with an accessible, skills-based learning platform like Alison become a launchpad for leadership success.

Ready to build and upskill your future leadership? Explore Alison’s LMS+ with over 5,500+ courses today and start investing in your high-potential employees.

 

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