Author Archives: Dr. Jeff McQuillan

Top 2 Tips on Reading English the Easy Way

Listen and reading are the two main (most important) ways to improve your English. Listening is important, but reading is also VERY powerful! Reading will actually improve your English listening and speaking, as well as reading and writing. To get … Continue reading

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Who Wants to Wash My Car?

My car is really dirty. I mean, it has a lot of dirt and dust on the outside. Why so dirty? Two reasons: 1. I live in Los Angeles, where it rains only rarely in the summer, so there is … Continue reading

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Speak English by Killing Birds and Beating Horses

I don’t like animals, especially cats. If you’ve listened to our old podcasts and current Daily English lessons, you probably know that already. But you can’t say you speak English fluently without knowing and using idioms that have animals in … Continue reading

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Congrats to the Grads!

June is the month for graduations, the completion of studies, both for high school and college/university students. So what does a typical American graduation look like? Most graduation ceremonies have two parts: (1) an awarding of degrees, where students come … Continue reading

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Headline English: Tit-for-Tat

Today’s Headline English comes from a recent editorial (opinion article) in the Los Angeles Times newspaper: “Trump’s tit-for-tat trade war with China escalates again.” If you’ve been following (reading or watching) the news, you know that the United States is … Continue reading

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Pizza Party in the U.S.A.

Americans love pizza. We love it so much that there are actually TWO pizza museums in the U.S. One is in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and is part of a pizza restaurant. The other is in Chicago (Illinois), opened by man who … Continue reading

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How to Say “No”

There are several commonly-used ways to say “no” in conversation when responding to a suggestion, request, invitation, or something similar. Each is used a little differently depending on how firm or forceful you want to be. I’ve listed a few … Continue reading

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Your English Challenge

“She told him that she loved him.” This seems like an easy sentence in English. But is it? What if I told you that you can make this sentence mean seven different things by adding just ONE word? Weird, I … Continue reading

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A Fairy Tale for a Princess Not Named Megan

A fairy tale is a story for children about something magical. It always has a happy ending, and many times is about royalty (queens, kings, princesses, etc.). Some say that the marriage of American actress Megan Markle to Prince Harry … Continue reading

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Is Disneyland Really the “Happiest Place on Earth”?

Last weekend I was in the city of Anaheim, California, about an hour from where I live in Los Angeles. Anaheim is home to Disneyland, which advertises itself as “the happiest place on Earth.” But according to a new poll … Continue reading

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