Identifying the Main Idea

In this lesson, we will learn how to find the main

idea in a short text. We will learn what the main
idea is and where to look for it. We will also learn
how to express it.

Task 1: Pre-Reading Activity

Task 2: Reading "Identifying the Main Idea"

Task 3: Practice Reading Comprehensions

Identifying the Main Idea

Pre-Reading

A. Warm-Up
The main idea is what the author wants you to
remember the most. You can find the main idea in
many types of writing. Here are a few examples:
a paragraph
an article
a book
a song

1. Can you think of any other types of writing that

have a main idea?

B. Vocabulary Preview
Match up as many words and meanings as you can.
Check this exercise again after seeing the words in
context on next page.

1. main idea
2. topic
3. clue
4. supporting details
5. summarize
Identifying the Main Idea

Reading

1. The main idea is what the author wants you to remember

most about the text. A week after reading a story or
book, you should still be able to remember the main
point.
2. To find the main idea, first, think about the topic.
Sometimes a picture tells you the topic before you even
read a word. Sometimes the title gives the topic away. A
topic sentence is another clue. The topic sentence is
often the first sentence in a paragraph. Repeated words
are also main idea clues.
3. Every text has supporting details. Often there is one
detail that is the most important. This detail helps you
figure out what the main idea is. You can work backward
to find the author’s main idea by looking at the details.
An easy way to find the main idea is to remember this
formula: topic + most important point = main idea.
4. Once you know the main idea, you need to know how to
express it. There are lots of types of main idea questions,
but they all have a similar answer. They all want you to
summarize the main idea in your own words.
5. Now you know how to identify the main idea of a
reading. Can you express the main idea of this text?
Synonyms
Here are some other words that mean the
main idea:
the main point
the central point
the key point
the main focus
the main takeaway
Identifying the Main Idea

Identifying the Main Idea

Now let’s review some clues that can help you find the main
idea of a text.

1. Picture

Function Tip

A picture often tells you what the Notice the placement of the picture.
reading is going to be about (topic) A picture near the top or bottom
before you read. A picture may often represents the general topic. A
also be an example of a supporting picture beside a paragraph usually
detail. goes with specific detail.

2. Title

Function Tip

The title often tells you what the Be careful. When reading fiction,
reading will be about. the title will not always help you
find the main idea.

3. Topic Sentence

Function Tip

The first sentence of a paragraph is This is often the main idea of a single
usually the topic sentence paragraph. It is not the main idea of a
larger work
Identifying the Main Idea

Identifying the Main Idea

Now let’s review some clues that can help you find the main
idea of a text.

1. Picture

Function Tip

A picture often tells you what the Notice the placement of the picture.
reading is going to be about (topic) A picture near the top or bottom
before you read. A picture may often represents the general topic. A
also be an example of a supporting picture beside a paragraph usually
detail. goes with specific detail.

2. Title

Function Tip

The title often tells you what the Be careful. When reading fiction,
reading will be about. the title will not always help you
find the main idea.

3. Topic Sentence

Function Tip

The first sentence of a paragraph is This is often the main idea of a single
usually the topic sentence paragraph. It is not the main idea of a
larger work
Identifying the Main Idea

4. Supporting Details

Function Tip

This information proves the Collect the details and look for a
author’s point. common theme.

5. Repeated Words

Function Tip

These words give clues about what Look for repeated words
the author thinks is most throughout the text. Be sure to
important. look at the beginning and end of a
paragraph or text.
Identifying the Main Idea

Practice
A. Finding the Main Idea

Read the text below.

Note down any clue that helps you find the main idea.
Did you know that trees tell their
own life stories? Under the bark,
some trees have growth rings.
The rings tell how old the tree is.
The dark circle in the center of
the trunk is the oldest wood. The
light- and dark-colored rings
show the beginning and end of
each growing season.

B. Expressing the Main Idea

Remember the formula you learned.
topic + most important detail = main idea
This can help us answer a main idea question about the
paragraph above.
topic = tree rings
most important detail = growth rings tell us how old a tree is
Identifying the Main Idea

C. Practice
Read a related paragraph. Identify the main topic and the most
important detail. Then answer the questions.

Not all trees have growing seasons. In tropical climates, trees

grow all year long. There are no rings to see because the
wood is always growing. In climates with seasons, trees grow
most in the spring. The dark rings mark the beginning of
slower summer growth. Together, one light ring plus one
dark ring equals one year of life as a tree.

1. What is the topic?

______________________________________
2. What is the most important detail?
______________________________________
3. What is the author’s main point?
______________________________________

Vocabulary Review
A. Complete the Sentences
Complete the sentences using vocabulary from Pre-Reading
Vocabulary.

1. An author makes his or her point with several

_______details.
2. The ______sentence is usually the first sentence in a
paragraph.
3. A picture gives you a ______ about the topic before you
read the text.
 Identifying the Main Idea

4. The topic plus the most important detail equals the______.

5.Write one sentence to _______the main idea in your own
words.

B. Matching
Match the vocabulary to the tip.
1. main idea
2. topic sentence
3. supporting details
4. clue
5. repeated words

a) Find it by adding the main topic plus the most important

detail.
b) By finding a common theme in these, you can find the main
idea.
c) A picture at the top of the text can help you know the
topic.
clue
d) You will often find these at the beginning and end of a text.
e) Find it in the first sentence in most paragraphs.
Identifying the Main Idea

More Practice
Read the paragraph and answer the main idea questions.

A. Reading

Getting Acquainted

The general rules of etiquette differ from culture to

culture. Making eye contact when speaking to someone is
considered important in North America, but this may be
considered rude in some Asian countries. Even the
distance we maintain between two people when having a
conversation can vary from culture to culture. It is also
important to know that some topics of conversation may
be acceptable small talk in one culture but unacceptable
in another. The best way to learn the etiquette of a
culture is to observe the people who are a part of it.
Identifying the Main Idea

B. Comprehension
1. Which is the main idea of the reading?

a) Making small talk is hard when you don’t know the

language.
b) Etiquette differs by culture, and the best way to learn it is
by watching people. c) It’s rude to make eye contact in some
Asian countries.

2. What clues are in the reading to help you find the main
idea?
____________________________________________________
3. Write the formula for the main idea of this reading
.____________________________________________________
4. What is another way to phrase question 1?
____________________________________________________
5. What are two other words for “main idea”?
____________________________________________________
 IELTS Reading Practice Test

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on
Reading Passage 1 below.
Aphantasia: A life without mental images

Close your eyes and imagine walking along a sandy beach and then gazing over the horizon as the Sun rises. How
clear is the image that springs to mind?

Most people can readily conjure images inside their head - known as their mind's eye. But this year scientists have
described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images.

Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind mind's eye. He knew he was different even in childhood. "My
stepfather, when I couldn't sleep, told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and I
couldn't," he says. "I couldn't see any sheep jumping over fences, there was nothing to count."

Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some
aspects of his memory are "terrible", but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with aphantasia, he
struggles to recognise faces. Yet he does not see aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing
life.

Mind's eye blind

Ironically, Niel now works in a bookshop, although he largely sticks to the non-fiction aisles. His condition begs the
question what is going on inside his picture-less mind. I asked him what happens when he tries to picture his fiancee.
"This is the hardest thing to describe, what happens in my head when I think about things," he says. "When I think
about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the
back, she's brunette. But I'm not describing an image I am looking at, I'm remembering features about her, that's the
strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret."

The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: "You're weird." But while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to
picture things, it is often a cause of distress for others. One person who took part in a study into aphantasia said he
had started to feel "isolated" and "alone" after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being
unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being "extremely distraught".

The super-visualiser

At the other end of the spectrum is children's book illustrator, Lauren Beard, whose work on the Fairytale Hairdresser
series will be familiar to many six-year-olds. Her career relies on the vivid images that leap into her mind's eye when
she reads text from her author. When I met her in her box-room studio in Manchester, she was working on a dramatic
scene in the next book. The text describes a baby perilously climbing onto a chandelier.

"Straightaway I can visualise this grand glass chandelier in some sort of French kind of ballroom, and the little baby
just swinging off it and really heavy thick curtains," she says. "I think I have a strong imagination, so I can create the
world and then keep adding to it so it gets sort of bigger and bigger in my mind and the characters too they sort of
evolve. I couldn't really imagine what it's like to not imagine, I think it must be a bit of a shame really."
Not many people have mental imagery as vibrant as Lauren or as blank as Niel. They are the two extremes of
visualisation. Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, wants to compare the lives and
experiences of people with aphantasia and its polar-opposite hyperphantasia. His team, based at the University of
Exeter, coined the term aphantasia this year in a study in the journal Cortex.

Prof Zeman tells the BBC: "People who have contacted us say they are really delighted that this has been recognised
and has been given a name, because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is this oddity that
they find hard to convey to others." How we imagine is clearly very subjective - one person's vivid scene could be
another's grainy picture. But Prof Zeman is certain that aphantasia is real. People often report being able to dream in
pictures, and there have been reported cases of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury.

He is adamant that aphantasia is "not a disorder" and says it may affect up to one in 50 people. But he adds: "I think it
makes quite an important difference to their experience of life because many of us spend our lives with imagery
hovering somewhere in the mind's eye which we inspect from time to time, it's a variability of human experience."
Questions 1–5

Do the following statements agree with the information in the IELTS reading text?

In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1. Aphantasia is a condition, which describes people, for whom it is hard to visualise mental
images.

2. Niel Kenmuir was unable to count sheep in his head.

3. People with aphantasia struggle to remember personal traits and clothes of different
people.

4. Niel regrets that he cannot portray an image of his fiancee in his mind.

5. Inability to picture things in someone's head is often a cause of distress for a person.

6. All people with aphantasia start to feel 'isolated' or 'alone' at some point of their lives.

7. Lauren Beard's career depends on her imagination.

8. The author met Lauren Beard when she was working on a comedy scene in her next book.

Questions 9–13

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

9. Only a small fraction of people have imagination as _______ as Lauren does.

10. Hyperphantasia is _______ to aphantasia.

11.There are a lot of subjectivity in comparing people's imagination - somebody's vivid scene
could be another person's _______ .
.

12. Prof Zeman is _______ that aphantasia is not an illness.

13. Many people spend their lives with _______ somewhere in the mind's eye.