Practice Passage 4
Many people find reading
literature a difficult task
because in literature (fiction, drama, and poetry), the
main idea is almost never expressed in a clear topic sen-
tence. Instead, readers have to look for clues often hid-
den in the language of the text. For example, the
following fictional paragraph describes a character.
Read it carefully, make
your observations, and then
identify the main idea of the paragraph:
Every morning when Clara arrives at the gym, she is
greeted with a buzz of warm hellos. She starts her
workout in the weight room, where her
exercise reg-
imen is always peppered with lively chats with those
around her. She then moves on to the pool, where
she stops and converses with other friends and
acquaintances before diving in and swimming laps.
As she swims, her sole focus
is the calming sound of
her body gliding through the water—a rare moment
in her always very social days.
Your Observations:
Example: I noticed that Clara talks with many people.
4. The main idea of this paragraph is that
a. Clara is shy.
b. Clara knows everyone at the gym.
c. Clara is very friendly.
Answer
Although it is possible that
b, “Clara knows everyone
at the gym,” there is no evidence in
this paragraph to
support that inference. Thus,
b cannot be the main
idea. Answer
a, “Clara is shy,” cannot be the correct
answer either, since everything in the paragraph sug-
gests
that Clara is, in fact, quite outgoing.
Furthermore, the language of the paragraph cre-
ates a feeling of warmth and friendliness: Clara is
greeted with “warm hellos” and she has “lively chats”
and conversations with friends and acquaintances. She
also has “very social days.” All these words work
together in the paragraph to paint a picture of some-
one who is very friendly and social. Thus, without
directly saying so, the
writer tells us that c, “Clara is
very friendly.”
S u m m a r y
Many writers use implication to convey meaning rather
than directly stating their ideas. This is especially true
in literature, where readers
generally prefer suggestion
to direct statements. Finding the implied main idea
requires a little detective work, but it is not as difficult
as
you may have thought, now that you know more
about language and the way words can be used to sug-
gest ideas.
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