Mplied Main Idea PDF

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Test your knowledge with this quick recall quiz before moving on to the practice exercises and tests. 1. The topic of a paragraph is a) broad enough to include all the material, but restrictive enough to reflect the most significant details. b) both broad enough to include all the material but restrictive enough to reflect the most significant details AND the same as the subject matter. c) the same as the main idea. d) the same as the subject matter. 2. To find the topic of a paragraph, ask the question, a) "Who or what is the paragraph about?" b) "Why did the author write this?" c) "Which statement best conveys the authorÍs point?" d) "What is the author saying about the topic?" 3. To find the implied main idea of a paragraph you a) put the author's main idea in your own words. b) pay attention to the supporting details and examples that are given. c) All of the answers are correct.

d) start by determining the topic. 4. To formulate the implied main idea of a paragraph and the implied central point of a passage ask the question, a) Why did the author write this? b) What is the author saying about the topic? c) Who or what is the paragraph about? d) What is the authorÍs attitude toward the topic? 5. To formulate the implied central point of a passage a) see how the main ideas of each paragraph contribute to the overall central idea. b) Ask, "Who is the passage about?" c) look for the statement that states the author's main point. d) look for a very specific statement. Learn more about Henry David Thoreau in this selection, and answer the questions that follow. Henry David Thoreau 1. Nature, as Henry David Thoreau describes it in his book season by season, is indeed a spirit, a living organism. Like William Wordsworth (a famous Romantic poet), Thoreau believed that nature could never betray a heart that loved it. Whether or not we would have the courage to follow in his footsteps and forsake the city altogether, we would do well to keep a copy of Walden on our night table, if only to help us realize the limitations of our usual concerns:

To him whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with the sun, the day is a perpetual morning. To be awake is to be alive. I have never met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face? . . . I could easily do without the post-office. I think there are very few important communications made through it. To speak critically, I never received more than one or two letters in my life . . . that were worth the postage. The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. 2. The last sentence is probably Thoreau’s most celebrated contribution to the human legacy. During the 1960s it became a battle cry for many who left work, school, marriage, or family, to find something better; the rationale was often that they wished to live as nature intended. Substituting the free and natural life for the nine-tofive structure they regarded as unnatural, many found joy when they joined their peers in campsites hundreds of miles from city conveniences. Some have never been heard from since, others quickly returned. —Janaro, Richard, and Thelma Altshuler. The Art of Being Human. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Longman, 1997. Print. 1. What is the most appropriate title for this selection? a) Nature as a Living Spirit b) The Poetry of Henry David Thoreau c) Nature d) Thoreau’s View of Nature Correct! This title covers all the material in the reading. 2. What is the implied central point?

a) Most people are unhappy. b) Nature is a living spirit we should follow. c) Social institutions are stifling. d) People should move out of cities. Correct! This choice gets to the heart of what Thoreau advocated. 3. Where is the main idea stated in paragraph 1? a) It is stated in the first sentence. b) It is stated in the second sentence. c) It is not stated explicitly in any single sentence. d) It is stated at the beginning of the indented quote. Incorrect. Which sentence captures the overall idea of the details? 4. Thoreau’s statement that there are few important communications made through letters is which of the following? a) the main idea b) a supporting detail c) the central point d) the topic Correct! This idea is not central to the point of the passage; it supports more important ideas. 5. What question could you ask to help you find the implied central

point? a) What is the main point the author is trying express? b) Who or what is the passage about? c) Who is the author? d) Are there any bold or italicized words? Correct! Ask yourself this question when you are trying to find the central point or main idea. 6. “Some have never been heard from since, others quickly returned.” How does this last sentence support Thoreau’s central point? Your Answer: Some people are not awake, and they cannot handle the need to be, so return from nature still asleep.

Feedback: The last sentence backs up Thoreau’s idea of nature not betraying humans if it is loved enough. The idea that some people have followed its calling reveals that nature has a strong pull on human emotions. British naturalist Charles Darwin developed his theories largely by observing animal populations. For this reason, he would have loved Banff National Park. While you read the next selection, look out for the topic and central point. Artificial and Natural Selection 1. Because of his background as a country gentleman, Darwin was familiar with the principles of artificial selection. He knew that through careful selection of animals for mating, breeders were able to accentuate desired characteristics in the offspring. Breeders, then, determine the reproductive success of individuals. For example, by

mating only the offspring of the greatest milk producers, breeders could develop high-yield dairy cattle. And by breeding only the offspring of good laying hens, they could eventually produce hens that were veritable egg-laying machines. The results of such artificial selection could be seen in only a few generations. 2. Darwin envisioned some sort of process of natural selection in which nature determines the reproductive success of individuals. It was analogous to the artificial selection imposed by the breeders. He remembered the variation he had observed in populations of plants and animals during his journey aboard a survey ship called the Beagle. Some of those variations, he reasoned, would give their bearer a competitive edge and increase that individual’s chance of surviving and reproducing. Thus, nature would select the best of the individuals for mating. Natural selection would be far less efficient than artificial selection since individuals with only somewhat lessdesirable characteristics might be able to produce at least some offspring, and thus their traits would take longer to disappear from the population. (Of course, those individuals with traits totally out of keeping with their environment would leave no offspring at all; hence, those traits would more quickly disappear from the population.) On the other side of the coin, the traits of those individuals with some reproductive advantage could be expected to increase through the generations. —Wallace, Robert. Biology: The World of Life, 6th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Print. 7. What is the following? In artificial selection, breeders select desired traits of offspring. a) the central point of the passage b) the main idea of paragraph 2 c) the topic of the passage d) the main idea of paragraph 1

Correct! This is the focus of paragraph 1. 8. What is the following? Darwin proposed that there were two types of reproductive selection. a) the central point of the passage b) the main idea of paragraph 2 c) the topic of the passage d) the main idea of paragraph 1 Correct! The author’s main point is that Darwin claimed that there were two types of reproductive selection: artificial and natural. 9. What is the following? reproductive selection a) the central point of the passage b) the main idea of paragraph 2 c) the topic of the passage d) the main idea of paragraph 1 Correct! Reproductive selection is the subject of this reading passage. 10. What is the following? In natural selection nature determines reproductive traits. a) the central point of the passage b) the main idea of paragraph 2 c)

the topic of the passage d) the main idea of paragraph 1 Correct! This is the focus of paragraph 2. 11. According to the passage, what would be one disadvantage of natural selection? a) Natural selection takes longer than artificial selection. b) Individuals with some reproductive advantage could be expected to increase through the generations. c) Breeders could breed only the best hens to produce the best offspring. d) Some variations in plants and animals give them a competitive edge to increase their chance of survival. Correct! Since there are no breeders to choose which individuals to breed, it would take nature longer for the traits that increase or decrease an individual's chance of survival to be passed down. 12. What example is used to support the main idea in paragraph 1? Your Answer:

For example, by mating only the offspring of the greatest milk producers, breeders could develop highyield dairy cattle. And by breeding only the offspring of good laying hens, they could eventually produce hens that were veritable egg-laying machines. It is used to support the main idea in paragraph 1. Feedback: Breeders could develop high-yield dairy cattle and could also produce

good laying hens. Preview the following selection. Then read it and answer the questions. You will receive your score at the end. There is no feedback during the test. Early Ocean Studies 1. Early interest in the sea was usually motivated by practical need. People simply wanted to go from one place to another in as short a time as possible. Early ocean studies therefore were closely connected to the development of trade. Slowly, this early mapping of Earth and exploring of the ocean and its contents developed into modern oceanography. By 800 B.C. explorers had made voyages around Africa, and by 400 B.C. the rise and fall of tides had been related to the phases of the moon. The Greek astronomer and poet Eratosthenes determined the circumference of Earth with remarkable precision around 250 B.C. 2. From these early explorations and scientific works, two hypotheses developed among ancient scholars about the distribution of land and water. Eratosthenes and the Greek geographer Strabo believed that the continents of the world formed a single island surrounded by the ocean. The other view, expressed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the middle of the second century A.D., was that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are enclosed seas, like the Mediterranean (that is, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are enclosed by land, the same way the Mediterranean is). 3. Importantly for world history, Ptolemy also believed that the eastern and western points of the world known at that time were very close together, and that by sailing west one could reach the eastern extremity rather quickly. It was this idea that led Christopher Columbus to sail west to reach Asia. Instead, he ran into a barrier known at that time only to Native Americans and a few early Viking explorers: North America. —Ross, David. Introduction to Oceanography. New York: HarperCollins College Division, 1995. Print.

1. What is the subject matter? a) Transportation. b) Greek explorers. c) Ocean exploration. d) Mapping. Correct. 2. What is the implied central point of the passage? a) Early interest in the sea was motivated by the need to get places. b) The early exploration of the ocean influenced world history and laid the groundwork for modern oceanography. c) Two hypotheses developed from early explorations of the ocean. d) The Greek astronomer, Ptolemy, greatly influenced world history. Correct. 3. What is the main idea of paragraph 1? a) Eratosthenes accurately determined the circumference of Earth. b) The need to travel and trade led people to explore and map the Earth and its oceans. c) By 800 B.C., explorers had made voyages around Africa. d) Modern oceanography is a recent science. Incorrect.

4. What is the topic of paragraph 2? a) Eratosthenes’s and Strabo’s hypothesis b) Ptolemy’s hypothesis c) the formation of the continents d) two early hypotheses regarding the distribution of land and water Correct. 5. Which of the following expresses the main idea of paragraph 3? a) North America was a barrier known only to Viking explorers. b) Ptolemy’s beliefs. c) Ptolemy’s belief about the nearness of east and west influenced world history. d) Columbus discovered America when he was trying to reach Asia. Correct. 6. What does Eratosthenes’s finding have to do with the central point of the passage? Your Answer: Eratosthenes and the Greek geographer Strabo believed that the continents of the world formed a single island surrounded by the ocean. He thinks the world was just one land. Preview the following selection. Then read it and answer the questions. You will receive your score at the end. There is no

feedback during the test.

Radar and the Terrestrial Planets 1. Despite the proximity of the Moon to the Earth, the two bodies are glaringly dissimilar. The other three terrestrial planets bear some close similarities to either the Earth or the Moon, but again, each is unique, each teaching us something about the others and about ourselves. 2. Although Mercury, Venus, and Mars are all close to Earth, they were long shrouded in mystery. Venus is covered with clouds that perpetually hide its surface. Mercury has no significant atmosphere, so its rocky surface is accessible, but it is so close to the Sun that we can observe it effectively only in twilight, when our murky atmosphere provides a poor view. Mars, however, with its surface markings and polar caps, appears intriguingly earthlike. 3. However, before any physical analysis of the planets is possible, we need distances. The distances between the bodies of the solar system are found from their orbital locations. The distance in kilometers from the Earth to any of these bodies then gives the number of kilometers per AU (that is, the distance in kilometers between the earth and sun) and thus the distances in kilometers between all the planets. In practice, we use Venus, measuring its distance from Earth in kilometers by radar (radio direction and range). 4. Radar uses artificially produced radio signals sent to and reflected from the body being examined. An astronomical radar system is a radio telescope that can both transmit and receive. A radio signal at a known wavelength is sent toward a target planet. A small portion of the signal bounces off the body and is returned. The time it takes the radio beam to travel to the target and back at the speed of light gives a precise distance. The semimajor axes of the orbits of Mercury, Venus, and Mars, already known in AU, are thereby found to be 57.9, 108, and 228 million km. respectively. From the planets’ angular radii and distances we easily calculate respective physical radii of 2,400, 6,100, and 3,400 km. Mercury is 40% larger than the Moon, Venus is

nearly a twin of Earth, and the size of Mars falls roughly between that of the Moon and Earth. —Kaler, James. Astronomy! A Brief Edition. 10th ed. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 1997. 192-194. Print. 7. What is the best title for this selection? a) Mercury, Venus, and Mars b) Radar c) Radar and the Terrestrial Planets d) Earth Correct. 8. Which of the following best expresses the implied central point of the selection? a) Radar helps scientists successfully analyze physical aspects, distance, and other things about planets. b) Radar uses artificially produced radio signals to examine planets. c) Before any physical analysis of the planets is possible, distances must be determined. d) Despite the proximity of the moon to the earth, the two bodies are glaringly dissimilar. Correct. 9. What is the topic of paragraph 3? a)

Mercury b) distances from Earth to other planets c) planet similarities d) features of the terrestrial planets Correct. 10. In paragraph 4, the main idea is supported by which of the following? a) facts and statistics b) examples c) explanation d) explanation, facts, and statistics Incorrect. 11. What is the topic of paragraph 3? a) determining planetary distances b) distance between Earth and the sun c) radar d) planetary size Correct. 12. What are two of the three examples that support the main idea in paragraph 2? Your Answer:

They are Mercury, and Venus....