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Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? Comparative and superlative adverbs: faster, the best

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches comparative and superlative adverbs through George Washington Carver, the Tuskegee scientist who told farmers to rotate their crops.

Grammar
Short adverbs with -er and -est (faster, the hardest), more and the most with -ly adverbs, better and worse, and comparing with than, (not) as … as and of all.
Topic
George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and crop rotation for tired soil, with words such as rotate, nutrient, acre and bulletin.
Activities
Episode notes to read, a studio talk and a listener's challenge to hear, self-checking drills, a chat between garden neighbors and open-box questions.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: down to earth

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: from the farmVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: why peanuts?

    • Look at the photo: a peanut plantPictureUnlock
    • Read the episode notesArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: Grandma's garden

    • Listen to Jade and DariusListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to The Listener's Take: Winona's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: faster, more carefully, the best

    • Study the scheme: faster, more carefully, the bestGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the comparative or the superlative of the adverbFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: adverbs that compareFill in the tableUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: make adverbs from the adjectivesFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: my harvest, your harvest

    • Choose the right replies: compare your harvestsChatTry it
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: compare with adverbsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: the sentence with the same meaningQuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: a museum labelChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Darius answers WinonaDrag and dropUnlock

32 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • sweet potato
  • pod
  • nutrient
  • agriculture
  • acre
  • experiment
  • profit
  • bulletin
  • wagon

Grammar: comparative and superlative adverbs

Comparative and superlative adverbs compare actions: how fast, how well or how carefully people do things. Carver's soil tests and a grandmother's tomato beds give learners plenty to compare, so they pick -er, more or an irregular form, then build comparisons with than, as … as and the + superlative.

Faster, more carefully, the best

Compare how people do things. Short adverbs take -er / -est, -ly adverbs take more / most, and well and badly change completely.

-er for short adverbs, more for -ly adverbs

Short adverbs such as fast, hard, early, late and soon add -er and -est: faster, the hardest, earlier. Adverbs ending in -ly take more and the most: more slowly, the most carefully. An adverb takes one of the two, never both: not more faster.

Make the forms

AdverbComparative (… than)Superlative (the …)Example
fastfasterthe fastestDarius eats the fastest.
hardharderthe hardestGrandma worked harder than anyone.
earlyearlier (y → i)the earliestShe got up earlier than the sun.
latelaterthe latestFootnote gets up the latest.
soonsoonerthe soonestThe tomatoes were ready sooner than we expected.
quicklymore quicklythe most quicklyThe soil recovered more quickly.
slowlymore slowlythe most slowlyDarius weeds more slowly than Grandma.
carefullymore carefullythe most carefullyRiley checks facts the most carefully.
wellbetterthe bestGrandma's tomatoes grow the best.
badlyworsethe worstOur peppers did the worst.

-er OR more, never both

Short adverbs take -er / -est: faster, the hardest (not: more faster, not: the most hardest). -ly adverbs take more / most: more slowly, the most carefully. Before of all, use the superlative: She worked the hardest of all (not: harder of all).

Well, badly and the adverb after the verb

Two adverbs change completely: well, better, the best and badly, worse, the worst. After the verb, compare with the adverb, not the adjective: She works more carefully, not more careful. Fast, hard, early and late have no -ly, and hardly means almost not.

An adverb, not an adjective

After the verb, use the adverb: She is careful → She works carefully → more carefully (not: more careful). The soil recovered more quickly (not: more quick, not: quicklier). fast, hard, early, late have no -ly: He works hard (hardly means almost not). And good → well → better → the best (not: gooder, not: more well).

Three ways to compare

A comparative + than sets two side by side: The soil recovered more quickly than before. (Not) as + adverb + as says whether they match: My tomatoes don't grow as well as hers. The + superlative picks one out of a group: Grandma worked the hardest of all.

Three ways to compare

comparative + than

  • Grandma got up earlier than anyone.
  • The soil recovered more quickly than before.
  • Grandma's tomatoes grow better than Darius's.

(not) as + adverb + as

  • My tomatoes don't grow as well as hers.
  • Darius doesn't weed as carefully as his grandmother.
  • Winona's brother works as hard as her dad.

the + superlative (+ of all / in …)

  • Grandma worked the hardest of all.
  • Her tomatoes grow the best on the whole street.
  • Who gets up the earliest in your family?

On Carver's farms and in Grandma's garden

  • Before the test, even cowpeas grew badly on the poorest acre.
  • Rotation helped the soil more cheaply than fertilizer from a store.
  • Over time, cotton grew better in rotated fields.
  • Darius's grandmother got up earlier than anyone.
  • Darius's balcony tomatoes don't grow as well as hers.
  • In Winona's yard, sweet potatoes grow the best.

Than anyone, much better and a missing the

To compare with everybody, say than anyone: She works harder than anyone. Much and a lot make the difference bigger: much better, a lot faster. With a superlative adverb, the is often dropped: Who works hardest? means Who works the hardest?

Good to know

With a superlative adverb, the is often left out: Who works hardest? = Who works the hardest? To compare with everybody, say than anyone: She works harder than anyone. For a big difference, add much or a lot: much better, a lot faster.

Four mistakes to avoid

More faster mixes the two ways: say faster. Quicklier should be more quickly, and more well is better. Of all follows the superlative: Grandma worked the hardest of all, not harder of all.

  • Darius eats more faster than Jade.

    Darius eats faster than Jade.

    short adverb: -er, no more

  • The soil recovered quicklier.

    The soil recovered more quickly.

    -ly adverb: more + adverb

  • Her tomatoes grew more well than mine.

    Her tomatoes grew better than mine.

    well → better → the best

  • Grandma worked harder of all.

    Grandma worked the hardest of all.

    the + superlative + of all

More lessons on this grammar: Comparatives and superlatives lessons and exercises

Try the comparative adverbs exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 18 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • compare how people do things with -er and than: Grandma got up earlier than anyone. Darius eats faster than Jade.
  • use more and the most with -ly adverbs: The soil recovered more quickly. Riley checks facts the most carefully.
  • use the irregular forms of well and badly: Her tomatoes grow the best on the whole street. Our peppers did the worst.
  • say how two actions differ with not as … as: Darius's balcony tomatoes don't grow as well as hers.
  • avoid common mistakes: faster, not more faster; the hardest of all, not harder of all

Lesson 9 opens Food for the future, unit 3 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. It takes the comparative and superlative adjectives of A2.1 lessons 10, 13 and 14, as … as from lesson 15 and the adverbs of manner from lesson 19 one step further, to adverbs that compare. Lesson 10 moves on to the future passive. Carver's story is about crops that grew better and soil that recovered more quickly, so comparing actions comes naturally.

Students spin a wheel of questions about peanuts, gardens and scientists, then learn twelve words, from rotate to wagon, with pictures and audio. They read the show's episode notes on Carver's poorest acre, his free bulletins and a school on wheels, then hear Jade and Darius talk about a grandmother's tomato beds and a listener's peanut challenge, both AI-voiced. The grammar chapter pairs the scheme with five self-checking drills, among them a table that runs from good to the best. Students then compare harvests with a garden neighbor in a chat and open boxes about who works the hardest.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, a gap-fill and a memory game for the words, then a choice of forms, gap-fills that compare, word order, a same-meaning quiz, a museum label on Carver with gaps and Darius's reply to the listener to complete.

Grammar:
comparative adverbs · superlative adverbs · more / most + -ly adverbs · well, better, the best · (not) as + adverb + as · than anyone
Topic:
George Washington Carver · Tuskegee · Alabama · crop rotation · peanuts · sweet potatoes · farming · food · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Line students up by their habits: who gets up the earliest, who sleeps the latest? They ask each other, stand in order and report: She gets up earlier than I do. He gets up the earliest.
  • Before the episode notes, ask where peanuts grow: on trees, on bushes or under the ground? Students vote, then read to check. The answer surprises most classes.
  • Play the studio talk twice: first for who did what in Grandma's garden, then for every adverb that compares. Students note each one: earlier than anyone, the fastest, as well as hers.
  • Build each form from the adjective: write careful, good, bad and fast on the board and ask how someone works. Students give the adverb first (carefully, well, badly, fast), then compare two classmates.

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9 · you're hereWhy did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10Lettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12What happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16Can you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18They'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19What should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20How do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25A day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What are comparative adverbs?
Comparative adverbs say how one action compares with another: Grandma got up earlier than anyone. The soil recovered more quickly than before. Adjectives compare people and things; adverbs compare the way they do something, so they usually come after the verb. The B1 lesson Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? on edio.ai teaches them with Carver's soil tests and a grandmother's tomato garden.
How do you form comparative and superlative adverbs?
Short adverbs add -er and -est: fast, faster, the fastest; early, earlier, the earliest. Adverbs ending in -ly take more and the most: more carefully, the most carefully. Two change completely: well, better, the best and badly, worse, the worst. In Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?, learners fill in a table with the adverb, comparative and superlative of eight adjectives.
What are some examples of superlative adverbs?
Common superlative adverbs are the fastest, the hardest, the best and the most carefully. In the edio.ai lesson Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?, Darius eats the fastest, and his grandmother's tomatoes grow the best on the whole street. A group often follows, with of all or in: Who gets up the earliest in your family? In speech, the is often dropped: Who works hardest?
What's the difference between comparative adjectives and comparative adverbs?
A comparative adjective describes a person or thing (Her tomatoes are bigger), while a comparative adverb describes how something is done: Her tomatoes grow better. After an action verb, use the adverb: She works more carefully, not more careful. Some words are both, such as fast, hard and early. A scheme tip in Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? on edio.ai warns about this trap.
Is it "faster" or "more faster"?
It's faster, with -er and no more. A short adverb takes -er or -est, so it's the hardest, not the most hardest. Adverbs ending in -ly work the other way: more quickly, never quicklier. And well has its own form, so more well and gooder are wrong too: say better. Drills in Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? set each trap beside the right form.
Who was George Washington Carver?
George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which he joined in 1896. Cotton had worn out much of the soil on small Southern farms, so he taught farmers to rotate it with soil-building crops such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He wrote more than 40 free bulletins in plain words, and many ended with recipes. The B1 lesson Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? on edio.ai tells his story.
Did George Washington Carver invent peanut butter?
No: the peanut butter story is a myth, and others made and patented peanut butter before and around his time. Carver did find more than 300 uses for peanuts and more than 100 for sweet potatoes, sources say. The episode notes in Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, clear up the myth, and a true/false item checks it.
How do I teach comparative adverbs to B1 students?
Begin with adverbs students already know, such as carefully, well and fast, then add more, -er or the irregular form and compare real people: My dad drives more carefully than my mom. Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? on edio.ai moves from Carver's soil tests and a garden dialogue to the scheme and five self-checking drills.
What's a good game for practicing comparative and superlative adverbs?
Opening boxes of questions about real people makes a quick game. In Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? on edio.ai, a student opens one, reads a prompt such as Who in your family works the hardest?, and answers aloud. For a team round, call out an action like sing or run, and teams race to name who in the class does it the best.
What's good homework for comparative adverbs?
Good homework mixes form drills with same-meaning sentences: gap-fills such as Who in your family cooks the ___ (well)?, a choice between faster and more faster, and a quiz that turns Nobody worked as hard as Grandma into Grandma worked harder than anyone. In Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? on edio.ai, all ten homework tasks check themselves.
How do you practice comparative adverbs one-to-one?
Compare the student's own family and friends: ask Who drives the most carefully? and Who gets up earlier, you or your sister?, let the student answer in full sentences, then switch roles. The chat in Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? on edio.ai needs no partner: a garden neighbor compares harvests, and the right reply is Mine did even worse, not even badder.
Are there interactive exercises for comparative adverbs?
Yes: gap-fills and chats that mark every answer let students check their adverbs at once. This page plays three parts of the B1 lesson Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts? on edio.ai without an account: Jade and Darius's talk about a grandmother's garden, a gap-fill of comparative and superlative adverbs and a chat comparing harvests. The rest of the lesson opens with an account.
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