Card 1 of 20
EasyStudy card 1
Prompt
What is a main idea?
Answer
The most important complete message a text communicates about its subject.
Reading & WritingChapter 1: Central Ideas and Details
Flashcards
Main Idea vs Supporting Detail Flashcards
Twenty concise recall cards for Topic 1-1: Main Idea vs Supporting Detail.
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Card 2 of 20
EasyStudy card 2
Prompt
What is a supporting detail?
Answer
A narrower fact, example, reason, description, or event that develops the main idea.
Card 3 of 20
EasyStudy card 3
Prompt
Topic vs main idea
Answer
A topic names the subject; a main idea states what the text communicates about it.
Card 4 of 20
EasyStudy card 4
Prompt
The coverage test
Answer
Ask whether the choice accounts for every major part of the passage.
Card 5 of 20
EasyStudy card 5
Prompt
The precision test
Answer
Reject a choice so broad that it could fit many unrelated passages.
Card 6 of 20
MediumStudy card 6
Prompt
True but too narrow
Answer
A choice may accurately repeat one detail yet fail to represent the passage as a whole.
Card 7 of 20
MediumStudy card 7
Prompt
True but too broad
Answer
A choice may express a general theme while dropping the passage's specific relationship.
Card 8 of 20
MediumStudy card 8
Prompt
Why paraphrase first?
Answer
It gives you a text-based target before attractive answer wording can distract you.
Card 9 of 20
MediumStudy card 9
Prompt
Repeated idea signal
Answer
Repeated or developed ideas often point toward the passage's center, but wording need not repeat exactly.
Card 10 of 20
MediumStudy card 10
Prompt
Contrast signal
Answer
A word such as but or however may reveal the relationship the main idea must preserve.
Card 11 of 20
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Prompt
Can a supporting detail be important?
Answer
Yes. Importance alone does not make it broad enough to be the main idea.
Card 12 of 20
MediumStudy card 12
Prompt
Main-idea answer shape
Answer
Subject plus the text's main development, finding, change, or claim.
Card 13 of 20
MediumStudy card 13
Prompt
Vivid-detail trap
Answer
Memorable names, numbers, or images can draw attention away from whole-passage scope.
Card 14 of 20
EasyStudy card 14
Prompt
Outside-knowledge rule
Answer
Judge each choice only by the passage, even if another claim seems generally true.
Card 15 of 20
EasyStudy card 15
Prompt
One-sentence check
Answer
Complete ‘The text mainly shows that …’ without listing every example.
Card 16 of 20
HardStudy card 16
Prompt
Detail-function question
Answer
Ask how the detail explains, illustrates, qualifies, or contrasts with the main point.
Card 17 of 20
HardStudy card 17
Prompt
Scope mismatch
Answer
The choice covers less or more than the passage actually develops.
Card 18 of 20
HardStudy card 18
Prompt
What if two choices are true?
Answer
Choose the one with the best combination of whole-passage coverage and exact scope.
Card 19 of 20
MediumStudy card 19
Prompt
Main idea is not a title
Answer
A title can name a subject; the answer must express a complete idea about it.
Card 20 of 20
HardStudy card 20
Prompt
Final verification
Answer
Point from each major sentence to a part of the selected main idea.
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