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A lottery to see fireflies: far fewer, slightly later, twice as many, by far the most

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches modifying comparatives and superlatives, such as far fewer and by far the most, through the Great Smoky Mountains' firefly lottery.

Grammar
Far, much or a lot for big differences, slightly or a bit for small ones, twice as many … as, nowhere near as … as and by far the + superlative.
Topic
The fireflies that flash in sync at Elkmont, a former logging town, and the park's lottery for vehicle reservations, with words such as limit, overtourism and fairness.
Activities
A data explainer to read, an office argument and a reader's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a trip chat, a question wheel and boxes.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: one night with the fireflies

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: too many visitors, too few placesVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: lights, luck and a logging town

    • Look at the picture: a forest in the Smokies at duskPictureUnlock
    • Read Isaiah's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the paragraphs and the headingsMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: the winner and the loser

    • Listen to Leona and IsaiahListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Hamilton's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: far fewer cars, by far the busiest week

    • Study the scheme: far fewer, twice as many, by far the mostGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Fill in the table: use far, twice and nowhere nearFill in the tableTry it
    • Choose the correct answer: what does it mean?QuizUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Isaiah's spreadsheet notesDrag and dropUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: two trips, one week off

    • Choose the right replies: help Eileen compare two tripsChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: who gets in?Open 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: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Isaiah answers HamiltonChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: the firefly fact boxDrag and dropUnlock

33 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

  • lottery
  • permit
  • overtourism
  • firefly
  • in sync
  • forest floor
  • congestion
  • first come, first served
  • fairness

Grammar: modifying comparatives and superlatives

A comparative says which is bigger; a word in front of it says by how much: far fewer cars, slightly later. A firefly lottery whose passes and dates change every year gives learners real, dated numbers to compare. They match the modifier to the size of the gap, multiply with twice as many … as and put by far before the + superlative.

Far fewer cars, by far the busiest week

Say how big a difference is: put a word before a comparative, before as … as, or before the + superlative.

A big or a small difference

Far, much and a lot make a difference big: far fewer passes, much earlier. Slightly, a little and a bit make it small: slightly later. Very doesn't go straight before a comparative: much busier, not very busier.

Before a comparative: a big or a small difference

DifferenceSayExample
bigfar / much / a lot + comparativeIn 2021 the park issued far fewer passes than in 2017.
smallslightly / a little / a bit + comparativeThe 2022 viewing began slightly later than in 2021.

Very? Not straight before a comparative

Very goes with a plain adjective (very busy), not straight before a comparative: say much busier or far fewer, not very busier or very fewer. And keep the after by far and easily: by far the busiest week, easily the best.

Twice as many, nowhere near as … as

Twice, three times or half go before as … as: 2017 had more than twice as many passes as 2021. Nowhere near as … as means far from equal; exactly as … as means equal. Many goes with plurals, much with uncountables, and both as words stay.

With as … as: how many times, or not at all

MeaningSayExample
× 2, × 3, half(more than / less than) twice / three times / half as … as2017 had more than twice as many passes as 2021.
not at all the samenowhere near / not nearly as … asOur office is nowhere near as dark as the forest at night.
exactly the samejust / exactly as … asIn 2025 the park issued exactly as many reservations as in 2023.

Many or much? And keep both as words

In as … as, use many with plural nouns and much with uncountable ones: twice as many cars, twice as many people (people is plural), twice as much traffic. Keep both as words: nowhere near as crowded as a mall. You know the more…, the more… (the more cars, the more noise); these words say how big the difference is.

By far and easily with the superlative

By far and easily go before the + superlative: by far the most passes, easily the busiest week. By far can also end the sentence: the busiest week of the year by far. Don't drop the: not by far busiest.

SayExample
by far / easily + the + superlativeOf the years Isaiah checked, 2017 had by far the most passes.
the + superlative + by farFor the fireflies, it's the busiest week of the year by far.

Common mistakes

Four slips come up again and again: very fewer cars, by far busiest week, nowhere near crowded as and twice as much people. The fixes are far fewer, by far the busiest, nowhere near as crowded as and twice as many people, since people is plural.

  • There were very fewer cars.

    There were far fewer cars.

    far, much or a lot before a comparative, never very

  • It was by far busiest week.

    It was by far the busiest week.

    by far + the + superlative

  • The lake is nowhere near crowded as the beach.

    The lake is nowhere near as crowded as the beach.

    keep both as words

  • The bus holds twice as much people.

    The bus holds twice as many people.

    people is plural: many

Isaiah's numbers and Leona's week

  • In 2021 the park issued far fewer passes than in 2017.
  • The 2026 viewing began much earlier than the 2025 one.
  • 2017 had by far the most passes of the years Isaiah checked.
  • For the fireflies, it's easily the busiest week of the year.
  • Isaiah thinks a lottery is nowhere near as fair as it looks on paper.
  • Hamilton thinks local winners would mean far fewer long trips.

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

Try the modifying comparatives exercises

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

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What's in the lesson

  • 19 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:

  • show a big difference with far, much or a lot: In 2021 the park issued far fewer passes than in 2017.
  • show a small difference with slightly, a little or a bit: The 2022 viewing began slightly later than in 2021.
  • multiply with twice, three times or half as … as, with many for plurals and much for uncountables: twice as many cars, twice as much traffic
  • put one thing far ahead with by far the or easily the + superlative: For the fireflies, it's easily the busiest week of the year.
  • help a friend compare two trips with numbers: The canyon gets ten times as many visitors as the lake town.

Lesson 18 is the second lesson of Travel that gives back, unit 5 of English B2.2 · Culture and Society. It builds on much hotter and (not) as … as from A2.1 lessons 10 and 15, slightly + comparative from B1.2 lesson 17 and the more…, the more… from B1.1 lesson 13. Lesson 19 turns to linkers of reason and result. A lottery with dated numbers gives every comparison a real figure.

Students spin a wheel of questions about fireflies, lotteries and crowded places, then learn twelve words, from limit and outnumber to in sync and first come, first served, with pictures and audio. They read Isaiah's data explainer on the firefly lottery, then hear Leona, who won a reservation, and Isaiah, who didn't, argue about whether a lottery is fair, and Hamilton from Tennessee ask for a share for locals; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking exercises, among them a quiz on what each modified sentence means. In the speaking chapter, students help Eileen compare two trips in a chat, then open boxes about who should get in.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game, then modifiers to choose and to build from words in brackets, a quiz on the correct sentence, word order, Isaiah's newsletter answer to Hamilton with options and a firefly fact box with words to drag in.

Grammar:
modifying comparatives · far / much / a lot + comparative · slightly / a little / a bit + comparative · twice as many … as · nowhere near as … as · by far the + superlative
Topic:
synchronous fireflies · Great Smoky Mountains National Park · Elkmont, Tennessee · the firefly lottery · overtourism · travel that gives back · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Put the park's numbers on the board before the scheme: 1,800 passes in 2017, 800 in 2021, 1,120 reservations in 2024 and 960 in 2025. Pairs compare two years and choose far, slightly or twice as many.
  • Hold a quick vote on fairness: a lottery, first come, first served or locals first? Students vote before the dialogue and again after Hamilton's memo, then explain any change: It's far fairer because…
  • Play the office argument twice: first for who won and who lost, then for every modifier. Students list far fewer cars, a slightly better chance, a lot more complicated and nowhere near as fair.
  • Correct very on the spot: when a student says very bigger, hold up a card with far, much and a lot and let them pick one.

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The whole course: English B2.2 · Culture and Society

32 more lessons for adults at B2 in American English, with the same Why Desk team in Pittsburgh. Each lesson answers one question about how Americans learn, work, travel and remember, from the law behind the 40-hour week to the oral histories of StoryCorps. Learners link ideas in formal writing, report what is said and believed, and pack more into a sentence with participle and relative clauses. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Learning reimagined

    adjective suffixes and negative prefixes, mixed conditionals, provided that and on condition that

    1. Lesson 1College for farmers' kids?Adjective suffixes and negative prefixes
    2. Lesson 2One cousin, one video, millions of learnersMixed conditionals: a past cause, a result now
    3. Lesson 3A college that says yesConditional linkers: provided that, on condition that, assuming, otherwise
    4. Lesson 4School in the woodsMixed conditionals: a present state, a past result

  2. Unit 2 Work-life balance

    be required to and be entitled to, present and perfect participle clauses, participle clauses after conjunctions

    1. Lesson 5Who decided a week is 40 hours?Formal rules: be required to, be entitled to, be exempt from
    2. Lesson 6A paid year off: rest or research?Present participle clauses for time and reason
    3. Lesson 7Was the coffee break born in Wisconsin?Perfect participle clauses: having done and having been done
    4. Lesson 8Why is the first Monday of September a day off?Participle phrases after conjunctions

  3. Unit 3 Turning points

    reduced relative clauses, preposition + which and whom, which for a whole clause, noun + preposition

    1. Lesson 9The keyboard that opened the officeReduced relative clauses: -ing and the past participle
    2. Lesson 10Earthrise: the photo that changed how we see EarthPreposition + which and whom
    3. Lesson 11A city of white palaces for six monthsSentence relative clauses: which for a whole clause
    4. Lesson 12The count that took eight years?Noun + preposition: a need for, a solution to, access to

  4. Unit 4 News and truth

    although, whereas and while, the impersonal passive, despite and however, is said to have

    1. Lesson 13A newspaper of their ownLinkers of contrast: although, even though, whereas and while
    2. Lesson 14Bat-people on the Moon?The impersonal passive: It is said that…
    3. Lesson 15Read like a fact-checkerLinkers of contrast: despite, in spite of, however and even so
    4. Lesson 16Did George Washington really chop down a cherry tree?Passive reporting verbs: is said to have done

  5. Unit 5 Travel that gives back

    so as to, in order to and so that, modifying comparatives, linkers of reason and result, verb + object + preposition + -ing

    1. Lesson 17Seven rules for the wild?Linkers of purpose: to, in order to, so as to, so that
    2. Lesson 18 · you're hereA lottery to see firefliesModifying comparatives and superlatives
    3. Lesson 19Sunrise with the turtlesLinkers of reason and result
    4. Lesson 20Volunteer on vacation?Verb + object + preposition + -ing

  6. Unit 6 Sport and society

    verb + noun collocations, what phrasal verb particles mean, a for-and-against essay, nouns from phrasal verbs

    1. Lesson 21The college team that changed disability sportVerb + noun collocations
    2. Lesson 22When women played pro baseballPhrasal verbs: what the particles mean
    3. Lesson 23Who needs a referee?The for and against essay: plan and linkers
    4. Lesson 24The comeback of Jim ThorpeNouns from phrasal verbs

  7. Unit 7 Buildings and heritage

    past participle clauses, quantifier + of which and of whom, report language, turn out and prove

    1. Lesson 25Homes built into the cliffsPast participle clauses with a passive meaning
    2. Lesson 26A house over a waterfallQuantifier + of which and of whom
    3. Lesson 27From factory to art museumReport language: headings, impersonal style, recommendations
    4. Lesson 28The towers the city tried to pull downTurn out and prove + to-infinitive or that clause

  8. Unit 8 Generations

    adverb + adjective collocations, three-part phrasal verbs, negative and echo questions, prepositional phrases

    1. Lesson 29Who decides where a generation ends?Adverb + adjective collocations
    2. Lesson 30Music students living in a retirement home?Three-part phrasal verbs
    3. Lesson 31Conversations kept for historyNegative questions and echo questions
    4. Lesson 32A day for grandparentsFixed prepositional phrases

Questions about this lesson

What are modifying comparatives?
They are words that say how big a difference is: far, much and a lot for a big one, slightly, a little and a bit for a small one, as in far fewer passes and slightly later. The same idea works with as … as (twice as many, nowhere near as busy) and with superlatives (by far the most). The B2 lesson A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai teaches all three.
What's the difference between “far more” and “slightly more”?
Far more marks a big gap; slightly more marks a small one. If there were 1,020 cars on Monday and 1,000 on Sunday, there was slightly more traffic on Monday; with 3,000 against 1,000, there was far more. Much and a lot work like far, and a little and a bit work like slightly. A quiz in A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai matches sentences like these to their numbers.
How do you use “twice as many” and “twice as much”?
Put twice, three times or half before as + many or much + noun + as. Use many with plural nouns such as cars and people, and much with uncountable ones such as traffic: twice as many cars, twice as much traffic. Half works the same way: The cabin costs half as much as the hotel. Isaiah's figures in A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai give more than twice as many passes.
Is it “very fewer” or “far fewer”?
It's far fewer: very can't go straight before a comparative. Say far fewer cars, much busier or a lot easier, not very fewer, very busier or a lot of easier. Very stays with a plain adjective: very busy. Several wrong replies in the chat of A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai make this slip, and the scheme lists three more.
What does “by far the” mean?
By far the + superlative means far ahead of all the others: Of the years Isaiah checked, 2017 had by far the most passes. Easily the works the same way: easily the busiest week of the year. By far can also come at the end: the busiest week by far. Keep the: by far busiest is wrong. A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai drills it with the park's numbers.
What are synchronous fireflies?
They are fireflies whose males flash together, in a shared rhythm. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the species Photinus carolinus gives several flashes, then about eight seconds of darkness, while females answer from the forest floor. It was the first synchronized-flashing firefly found in North America, and scientists still don't fully know why the males sync. A firefly, by the way, is a beetle. A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai describes the show.
How does the Elkmont firefly lottery work?
Every spring, Great Smoky Mountains National Park holds a lottery for vehicle reservations to see the fireflies at Elkmont, near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. People enter in late April or early May, and about eight viewing nights follow in late May or early June. A reservation covers one car with up to seven people for one night; in 2026 there were 120 a night. A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai has the numbers back to 2017.
How do I teach modifying comparatives to B2 students?
Give students real numbers to compare, so the size of the gap decides the word: 1,800 against 800 needs far fewer, and June 1 against June 3 needs slightly later. Then add twice as many … as and by far the. A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai uses the park's dated figures in the explainer, a dialogue, the scheme, a quiz on what each sentence means and four more drills.
What's a good game for practicing modifying comparatives?
Play “Guess the gap”: one student thinks of two things, such as two cities or two phones, and gives a clue with a modifier: It's far bigger, but nowhere near as old. The class guesses what they are. For speaking, the boxes in A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai ask questions like What's by far the most crowded place you've ever visited?
What's good homework for modifying comparatives?
Good homework checks the small words that hold the pattern together: the after by far, both as words and many or much. All ten homework tasks in A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai check themselves, from modifiers to choose and to build from words in brackets to Isaiah's newsletter answer to Hamilton and a firefly fact box.
How do you practice modifying comparatives one-to-one?
Compare two real options the student is choosing between: two trips, two phones or two jobs. The teacher asks How much cheaper? or Is it twice as far?, and the student answers with a modifier. The chat in A lottery to see fireflies on edio.ai works without a teacher: Eileen can't choose between a famous canyon in July and a lake town in September, and the student compares them.
Are there interactive exercises for modifying comparatives?
Yes. This page plays three parts of A lottery to see fireflies, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: Leona's lottery argument with Isaiah, a table that turns one word into three comparisons and Eileen's chat about two trips. Other parts open with an account.
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