Two years under glass: focus adverbs only, even and just, and not … at all

Q: What are focus adverbs?

Focus adverbs such as only , even and just point at one word or phrase in a sentence : Only eight people lived inside. Even the floor is sealed. They usually go right before that word, so moving them changes the meaning. The B2 lesson Two years under glass on edio.ai teaches them, together with at all , through Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert.

Q: Where does only go in a sentence?

Right before the word it focuses on : Only Leona saw the ants (nobody else), Leona saw only the ants (nothing else), Leona saw the ants only once (not twice). It can also go before the main verb or after be : Leona was only there for an hour. In speech, stress shows which word you mean. Two years under glass on edio.ai has a quiz on which word is the focus.

Q: What does “at all” mean, and where does it go?

At all means “in any way” or “even a little,” and it makes a negative or a question stronger : Leona didn't like the ants at all. Did you know anything about it at all? It goes at the end of the clause or right after no + noun or nothing : no tides at all , nothing at all . As a reply, Not at all! is a firm no. Two years under glass on edio.ai practices each pattern.

Q: What's the difference between only and just?

Both can mean “no more than” : only eight people and just eight people say the same thing. Just has meanings that only doesn't: exactly ( just like a giant greenhouse ), a little more or less ( just over three acres ) and a moment ago ( We've just arrived ). A column sort in Two years under glass on edio.ai groups eight phrases by these meanings.

Q: Is it “I didn't at all like it” or “I didn't like it at all”?

It's I didn't like it at all : put at all after the verb and its object . It also needs a negative or a question, so The tour was boring at all is wrong; say The tour wasn't boring at all . With no , the noun comes first: no tides at all , not no at all tides . The chat in Two years under glass on edio.ai uses slips like these as its wrong replies.

Q: What was Biosphere 2?

Biosphere 2 is a sealed glass-and-steel building in the Arizona desert , built to test whether people could live in a closed ecosystem, partly to prepare for life in space. On September 26, 1991, eight people, four women and four men, were sealed inside, and they stayed two years, growing about 80 percent of their food. Since 2011, the University of Arizona has owned and run it as a research center. Two years under glass on edio.ai tells the story.

Q: How do I teach focus adverbs to B2 students?

Start with meaning, then position : show how only changes a sentence each time it moves, then fix the rule that it goes before its focus. Add even for surprises, and at all for strong negatives last. Two years under glass on edio.ai moves from Leona's explainer and a tour of Biosphere 2 to the scheme, a quiz on the focus word, a sort of the meanings of just and three more drills.

Q: What's a good game for practicing only, even and at all?

Play “Only one of us” : in groups, students find facts true for just one person ( Only one of us has been to Arizona. ), surprising facts true for everyone ( Even Sam likes spinach. ) and facts true for nobody ( None of us likes snakes at all. ). For speaking, one of the boxes in Two years under glass on edio.ai asks Would you live under glass for two years? What wouldn't you miss at all?

Q: What's good homework for focus adverbs?

Good homework gives the meaning and asks for the word : At the club meeting, there were ___ (no more than) three students. Add word-order items that test at all and a short text with gaps. All ten homework tasks in Two years under glass on edio.ai check themselves, ending with a tour flyer for Biosphere 2 and Leona's answer to Sheila, a reader from Tucson.

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches focus adverbs only, even and just, and at all through Biosphere 2, the sealed glass world in the Arizona desert where eight people lived for two years.

Grammar: Only, even and just right before their focus, only and even before the main verb (The crew even kept goats.), the meanings of just, and at all for a stronger negative: no tides at all.
Topic: What the crew grew, what went wrong with the air and whether the experiment failed, with words like seal, oxygen and self-sufficient.
Activities: An explainer, a tour and a reader's voice memo, self-checking drills, an end-of-year chat and boxes on failure or lesson.

What's inside

Chapter 1Warm-up: could you live under glass?
- PictureUnlock
- Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
- Study the words: a world under glassVocabularyTry it
- Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock
Chapter 2The building that breathed
- Look at the photo: Biosphere 2 in the desertPictureUnlock
- Read Leona's field 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
Chapter 3Failure or lesson?
- Listen to Leona and EricListeningTry it
- Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
- Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
- Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Sheila's voice memoListeningUnlock
- Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
- Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
Chapter 4Grammar: Only eight people, no tides at all
- Study the scheme: only, even, just and at allGrammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct option: only, even, just or at all?Choose the optionTry it
- Fill in the gaps: put the words in brackets in the correct orderFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: which word is the focus?QuizUnlock
- Sort the words into the correct columns: what does just mean?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
Chapter 5Let's talk: the last meeting of the year
- Choose the right replies: the end-of-year meetingChatTry it
- Open a box and answer: failure or lesson?Open the boxUnlock
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 with focus adverbs: use the meaning in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
- Put the words in the correct order: new sentencesUnjumbleUnlock
- Choose the correct option: a tour flyerChoose the optionUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: Leona answers SheilaDrag and dropUnlock

Environment 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

carbon dioxide
self-sufficient
ecosystem
savanna
tide
swarm
overrun
condensation
grain

Grammar: focus adverbs: only, even, just and at all

Focus adverbs point at one word and change how limited, surprising or exact it sounds: Only eight people lived inside. In a sealed world that kept surprising its builders, learners place each adverb right before its focus, sort the meanings of just and use at all to make a negative or a question stronger.

Only eight people, no tides at all

The focus adverbs only, even and just usually go right before the word they focus on. At all makes a negative or a question stronger, usually at the end.

Only, even and just before the focus word

Only, even and just go right before the word they focus on: Only eight people lived inside. Even the floor is sealed. Only means no more, or nobody and nothing else; even adds a surprise: more than you'd expect.

Word	It means…	Where it goes	Example
only	no more, or nobody / nothing else	right before the word it focuses on, or before the main verb	Only eight people lived inside.
even	a surprise: more than you'd expect	right before the word it focuses on, or before the main verb	Even the floor is sealed.
just	only (just eight) or exactly (just like, just right)	right before the word it focuses on	It looks just like a giant greenhouse.
not … at all	not in any way: a stronger no	at the end of the clause	Leona didn't like the ants at all.
no / nothing / any … at all	none, not even a little	right after the noun or after nothing / anything	The mangroves have no tides at all.
at all in questions	in any way, even a little	at the end of the question	Did you know anything about it at all?

Before the main verb: The crew even kept goats

Only and even can also sit before the main verb (The crew even kept goats and chickens.), after be (Leona was only there for an hour.) or after the first helping verb. Not even follows the negative helping verb: Leona didn't even finish her coffee.

Where	Example
before the main verb	The crew even kept goats and chickens.
after am / is / are / was / were	Leona was only there for an hour.
after the first helping verb	Leona has only got an hour.
not even: after the negative helping verb	Leona didn't even finish her coffee.

Move only, change the meaning

Only Leona saw the ants means nobody else did; Leona saw only the ants means she saw nothing else; Leona saw the ants only once means not twice. In writing, put only right before the word you mean; in speech, stress shows the focus.

Move only, change the meaning

Only Leona saw the ants: nobody else saw them. Leona saw only the ants: she saw nothing else. Leona saw the ants only once: not twice. People often say “Leona only saw the ants” and show the focus with their voice. In writing, put only right before the word you mean.

Just: only, exactly or a little

Just can mean only (just eight people), exactly (just like a giant greenhouse, just right) or, with over and under, a little more or less: just over three acres. With the present perfect, it means “a moment ago”: We've just arrived.

just: only or exactly?

just = only: just eight people, just a short tour. just = exactly: just like a greenhouse, just right, just as we arrived. just over / just under = a little more / a little less: just over three acres, just under an hour. You already know just = a moment ago: We've just arrived.

At all: a stronger negative or question

At all strengthens not, no, nothing, never or a question, at the end of the clause or right after no + noun: no tides at all. Never put at all between the helping and main verb (didn't at all like), and never use it in a positive sentence.

at all: with a negative or a question

Use at all with not, no, nothing, never or in a question. Put it at the end (She didn't like it at all) or right after no / nothing (no tides at all, nothing at all). With be + adjective, not at all easy is right too. Never put it between the helping verb and the main verb (not: She didn't at all like it), and never in a positive sentence (not: I liked it at all).

Common mistakes

Leona didn't at all like the ants.
Leona didn't like the ants at all.
at all goes at the end
The tour was boring at all.
The tour wasn't boring at all.
at all needs a negative or a question
Eight only people lived inside.
Only eight people lived inside.
only goes right before the word it focuses on
The mangroves have no at all tides.
The mangroves have no tides at all.
no + noun + at all

On the tour

Only eight people were sealed inside in 1991.
Even the glass caused trouble.
The building covers just over three acres.
The mangrove area has no tides at all.
They didn't show that at all.
“Did you like the crazy ants?” “Not at all!”

More lessons on this grammar: Adjectives and adverbs lessons and exercises

Try the focus adverbs exercises

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

What's in the lesson

18 auto-checked exercises
6 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:

put only and even right before the word they focus on: Only eight people lived inside. Even the glass caused trouble.
use even and not even in mid position: The crew even kept goats. Leona didn't even finish her coffee.
tell the meanings of just apart: just eight people, just like a giant greenhouse, just over three acres
make a negative or a question stronger with at all: The mangrove area has no tides at all. Did the crew grow any rice at all?
argue whether Biosphere 2 was a failure or a lesson: Even the problems taught scientists something.

Lesson 32 closes Exploring the extremes, unit 8, and with it English B2.1 · How the World Works. Just as “a moment ago” comes from A2.2, and lesson 17 used comment adverbs such as apparently to comment on a whole sentence; here they point at one word. The next course, English B2.2 · Culture and Society, opens with College for farmers' kids? and negative prefixes. A sealed world where even the walls and the glass surprised scientists suits even, only and not … at all.

Students spin a wheel about living under glass, then learn twelve words, from seal and absorb to condensation and grain, with pictures and audio. They read Leona's field explainer from Biosphere 2, then hear her tour with Eric, a guide who calls the experiment a success, and Sheila from Tucson argue that it taught more by going wrong; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking exercises, among them a quiz on which word is the focus. To end the course, students reply to Leona at The Why Desk's last meeting of the year in a chat and open boxes about failure or lesson.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game, then new sentences to choose from, gaps with the adverb that fits a meaning, a quiz on correct sentences, word order, a tour flyer and Leona's answer to Sheila with words to drag in.

Grammar:: focus adverbs · only, even, just · at all · adverb position
Topic:: Biosphere 2 · Arizona · the University of Arizona · closed ecosystems · experiments · space research · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

Move only through one sentence: write Leona saw the ants on the board and place only before each word in turn. Students explain each new meaning, then read it aloud with the stress on the focus.
Ask what surprised students in the explainer, and have them answer with even: Even the rain is made by machines. Even the glass caused trouble.
Play the tour twice: first to decide who thinks Biosphere 2 failed, then to catch every only, just, even and at all. Students sort the just lines by meaning.
Turn mild answers into strong ones: I didn't like it → I didn't like it at all; Did you learn anything? → Did you learn anything at all? Then show that at all never works in a positive sentence.

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The whole course: English B2.1 · How the World Works

32 lessons for adults at B2 in American English, each answering one question about how the world works. The team of The Why Desk, a small online magazine in Pittsburgh, takes on one question a week, from the day a computer beat the world chess champion to eight people sealed inside Biosphere 2. Learners tell stories with narrative tenses, speculate about the past and the future, and report what experts claim. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

Unit 1 AI and the future of work
narrative tenses, by and until, be bound to and be likely to, the future perfect
Unit 2 Health breakthroughs
the third conditional, the past perfect and past continuous passive, have something done, the passive with two objects
Unit 3 Moving people
the past perfect continuous, the passive infinitive and -ing form, it's worth and there's no point, the future in the past
Unit 4 Wildlife comebacks
reporting verbs with a that clause, with an object and infinitive and with -ing, verbs of perception
Unit 5 Pop culture goes global
comment adverbs, wish and if only for the present and the past, have someone do and get someone to do
Unit 6 Money and smart choices
-ever words and no matter, should have and could have, prepositions for numbers and change, it's time and would rather
Unit 7 Language and communication
must have, might have and can't have, verb prefixes and suffixes, past modals in continuous and passive forms, agreement with quantities
Unit 8 Exploring the extremes
dimension nouns, the future continuous and future perfect continuous, compound adjectives, only, even and just
1. Lesson 29A walk on the ocean floorDimension nouns and phrases: depth, width, height
2. Lesson 30Six months of night at the South PoleThe future continuous and the future perfect continuous
3. Lesson 31Flying on pedal powerCompound adjectives with numbers and participles
4. Lesson 32 · you're hereTwo years under glassFocus adverbs: only, even, just and at all

Questions about this lesson

What are focus adverbs?

Focus adverbs such as only, even and just point at one word or phrase in a sentence: Only eight people lived inside. Even the floor is sealed. They usually go right before that word, so moving them changes the meaning. The B2 lesson Two years under glass on edio.ai teaches them, together with at all, through Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert.

Where does only go in a sentence?

Right before the word it focuses on: Only Leona saw the ants (nobody else), Leona saw only the ants (nothing else), Leona saw the ants only once (not twice). It can also go before the main verb or after be: Leona was only there for an hour. In speech, stress shows which word you mean. Two years under glass on edio.ai has a quiz on which word is the focus.

What does “at all” mean, and where does it go?

At all means “in any way” or “even a little,” and it makes a negative or a question stronger: Leona didn't like the ants at all. Did you know anything about it at all? It goes at the end of the clause or right after no + noun or nothing: no tides at all, nothing at all. As a reply, Not at all! is a firm no. Two years under glass on edio.ai practices each pattern.

What's the difference between only and just?

Both can mean “no more than”: only eight people and just eight people say the same thing. Just has meanings that only doesn't: exactly (just like a giant greenhouse), a little more or less (just over three acres) and a moment ago (We've just arrived). A column sort in Two years under glass on edio.ai groups eight phrases by these meanings.

Is it “I didn't at all like it” or “I didn't like it at all”?

It's I didn't like it at all: put at all after the verb and its object. It also needs a negative or a question, so The tour was boring at all is wrong; say The tour wasn't boring at all. With no, the noun comes first: no tides at all, not no at all tides. The chat in Two years under glass on edio.ai uses slips like these as its wrong replies.

What was Biosphere 2?

Biosphere 2 is a sealed glass-and-steel building in the Arizona desert, built to test whether people could live in a closed ecosystem, partly to prepare for life in space. On September 26, 1991, eight people, four women and four men, were sealed inside, and they stayed two years, growing about 80 percent of their food. Since 2011, the University of Arizona has owned and run it as a research center. Two years under glass on edio.ai tells the story.

What happened to the oxygen inside Biosphere 2?

The building was almost airtight, losing less than 10 percent of its air a year, so scientists could watch the oxygen drop from about 21 to about 14 percent in 16 months. In January 1993, oxygen was added. Scientists from Columbia University found that the concrete walls had absorbed carbon dioxide, which hid the cause. Leona's explainer in Two years under glass on edio.ai covers this and other surprises, such as glass that blocked ultraviolet light.

How do I teach focus adverbs to B2 students?

Start with meaning, then position: show how only changes a sentence each time it moves, then fix the rule that it goes before its focus. Add even for surprises, and at all for strong negatives last. Two years under glass on edio.ai moves from Leona's explainer and a tour of Biosphere 2 to the scheme, a quiz on the focus word, a sort of the meanings of just and three more drills.

What's a good game for practicing only, even and at all?

Play “Only one of us”: in groups, students find facts true for just one person (Only one of us has been to Arizona.), surprising facts true for everyone (Even Sam likes spinach.) and facts true for nobody (None of us likes snakes at all.). For speaking, one of the boxes in Two years under glass on edio.ai asks Would you live under glass for two years? What wouldn't you miss at all?

What's good homework for focus adverbs?

Good homework gives the meaning and asks for the word: At the club meeting, there were ___ (no more than) three students. Add word-order items that test at all and a short text with gaps. All ten homework tasks in Two years under glass on edio.ai check themselves, ending with a tour flyer for Biosphere 2 and Leona's answer to Sheila, a reader from Tucson.

How do you practice focus adverbs one-to-one?

Trade honest reviews of a trip or a film: the student uses only for limits, even for surprises and not … at all for strong dislikes, and the teacher answers back the same way. The chat in Two years under glass on edio.ai works without a partner: at the team's end-of-year meeting, the student replies to Leona as a new intern.

Are there interactive exercises for focus adverbs?

Yes. This page plays three parts of Two years under glass, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, without an account: Leona's tour with Eric, a multiple-choice drill on the four focus words and the chat from the end-of-year meeting. Everything else needs an account.

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About this lesson

What's inside

Environment vocabulary

Grammar: focus adverbs: only, even, just and at all

Only, even and just before the focus word

Before the main verb: The crew even kept goats

Move only, change the meaning

Just: only, exactly or a little

At all: a stronger negative or question

Common mistakes

On the tour

Try the focus adverbs exercises

What's in the lesson

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

Teaching tips

Teach the whole lesson in edio

Start a free trial

Open the lesson

Teach it live or as homework

The whole course: English B2.1 · How the World Works

Unit 1 AI and the future of work

Unit 2 Health breakthroughs

Unit 3 Moving people

Unit 4 Wildlife comebacks

Unit 5 Pop culture goes global

Unit 6 Money and smart choices

Unit 7 Language and communication

Unit 8 Exploring the extremes

Questions about this lesson

Teach this lesson with your students