Getting the Main Idea, Topic Sentence

1. Reading 6 Class Powered By: Miss Valeros

2. If you’re a bird, be an early, early birdAnd catch the worm for yourbreakfast plateIf you’re a bird, be an early, early birdBut if you’re a worm…Sleep late!

3. The ability to follow directions is an important skill that you use all your life. Scarcely a day goes by without the need to follow directions. Cooking, baking, taking medicines, driving, traveling, planning , taking exams and a hundred other common activities require the need to follow directions.

4. A person cannot relax and study at the same time. Studying requires a certain amount of tension, concentration and an effort in a specific direction. Of course, the amount of tension varies with different individuals. The point is that studying is hard work and people who are not prepared to make a proper effort are wasting their time.

5. People have always had this mentality that good gifts are expensive , or to put it in another way, expensive presents are good gifts. Seldom do they consider usefulness or more important, sincerity. It has yet to be accepted that gift-giving does not always consist of material things. Looking at people battered with problems, maybe they can do more with gifts of smiles and songs.

6. SKILL: Getting the Main Idea WHAT IS IT: Getting the main idea is similar to finding the most important thing the author is trying to say.

7. The MAIN IDEA of a paragraph is a general content of the paragraph. It is the paragraph’s CENTRAL thought.

8. The main idea provides order, progression, and unity to the paragraph by tying together the sentences. Without the main idea, the paragraph would be nothing but a collection of unrelated ideas.

9. Recognition of the main idea is important because it helps you not only to understand the paragraph but also helps you remember the content.