Words! Words! Words!

On May 1, 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially dedicated New York City’s Empire State Building, pressing a button from the White House that turned on the building’s lights. Hoover’s gesture, of course, was symbolic; while the president remained in Washington, D.C., someone else flicked the switches in New York. On this day in 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. The incident derailed an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month. Let’s see how high and how fast you can go with today’s word quiz. Be sure not to bail out before you finish!

On September 26, 1957, West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. For the groundbreaking musical, Bernstein provided a propulsive and rhapsodic score that many celebrate as his greatest achievement as a composer. However, even without the triumph of West Side Story, Bernstein’s place in musical history was firmly established. In addition to his work as a composer, the “Renaissance man of music” excelled as a conductor, a concert pianist, and a teacher who brought classical music to the masses.

See if you wax rhapsodic in today’s word quiz.

On September 17, 1976, NASA publicly unveiled its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California. Development of the aircraft-like spacecraft cost almost $10 billion and took nearly a decade. In 1977, the Enterprise became the first space shuttle to fly freely when it was lifted to a height of 25,000 feet by a Boeing 747 airplane and then released, gliding back to Edwards Air Force Base on its own accord. Try our word quiz and see how high you can soar and how far you can glide.

On Sep. 3, 1783, the American Revolution officially came to an end when representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain and France signed the Treaty of Paris. The signing signified America’s status as a free nation, as Britain formally recognized the independence of its 13 former American colonies, and the boundaries of the new republic were agreed upon: Florida north to the Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast west to the Mississippi River.

Try your fighting and diplomatic skills with today’s word quiz. Select your answers and we'll show your score at the end. 

PLEASE NOTE:  If you are using an iPad, please click on this link to access the survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Sept-3-in-word-history.

Here at ProofreadNOW.com, one of our jobs is to make sure our customers use the right word, always. Some words are confusing, though. For instance, is it "martial law" or "marshal law" when the government takes over? Does one have a "flare" for fashion or a "flair" for fashion? Take our quick 10-word quiz and see where you land.

On this day in 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She survived, which is not easy to do. On this day in 1931, eight months ahead of schedule (people worked hard back in the day), New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River. The 4,760-foot-long suspension bridge, the longest in the world at the time, connected Fort Lee, New Jersey with Washington Heights in New York City. On this day in 1945, the United Nations Charter, which was adopted and signed on June 26, 1945, became effective and ready to be enforced.

Test your building skills, talent for survival, and international acumen in today’s word quiz.