Main Idea 1
Main Idea 2
Main Idea 3
Author's Purpose 1
Author's Purpose 2
100
Is the main idea always in the first sentence?
No
100
What are details?
Facts that relate to the main idea
100
What is the main idea?
The main point
100
What is the purpose of a cat food commercial?
To persuade
100
What is the author's purpose?
The author's reason for writing something
200
The main idea of this paragraph is A) You have been offered a job. B) The time has come to negotiate your salary. C) The question to ask yourself is: "How much am I worth?" D) The point is, in order to negotiate the best possible salary, you must convince both yourself and the employer of the value that you will bring to the job.
D
200
Native Americans dried strips of meat, pounded it into a paste, and then mixed it with fat. Sometimes they added berries and sugar. Then they pressed it into small cakes. They called these cakes pemmican. Pemmican didn't spoil, and it provided lots of energy for people traveling or going hunting. Today explorers still carry and eat this food. This passage is mainly about... A) who uses pemmican today. B) what can be put into pemmican. C) how pemmican was prepared by Native Americans. D) why people eat pemmican today.
C
200
Most people think that gorillas are mean, but actually they are shy. It seems that such a huge animal with very large teeth would be aggressive. Hollywood movies help convey this image of the scary, ferocious gorilla. In fact, gorillas only attack if they are provoked. However, gorillas usually don't have to fight other animals because of their impressive size. The author believes that: A) Gorillas are misunderstood as vicious animals. B) Gorillas are mean animals. C) Gorillas don't like other animals. D) Gorillas communicate well with other animals.
A
200
Author's Purpose Challenge: Nominate one person to get a subject and a purpose from me. They will try to get their group to guess both their purpose and their subject. They will have one minute.
Purpose: Persuade Subject: Taylor Swift
200
What are the three main purposes authors have?
Persuade, Entertain, Inform
300
What is the main idea of this passage? A. The Humanitarian work of the First Ladies is critical in American government. B. Dolly Madison was the most influential president's wife. C. Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the First Lady image. D. The First Ladies are important figures in American culture. E. The First Ladies are key supporters of the Presidents.
E
300
When a person decides to get a dog, he or she has many kinds to choose from. As a rule, short-haired dogs are best for cities. Beagles, Boston Terriers, and Dachshunds make good city pets. Great Danes are short-haired, too. However, they are too big for city living. It is hard in a city to give them all the exercise they need. Setters, Springer Spaniels, and Collies are especially good as country dogs. What is the main idea? A) Dogs are good pets. B) Some dogs are better than others for city life. C) There are many kinds of dogs. D) Short-haired dogs are better for cities.
B
300
Do you ever wonder how you taste things? You owe your sense of taste to your taste buds. We have nine thousand taste buds just on the tongue alone. There are also taste buds on the roof of your mouth. You even have taste buds on the back of your throat. What does the author want you to learn when he wrote this passage? A) why we can taste only sweet things B) that we taste through our nose C) where taste buds are found D) without taste buds life would be boring
C
300
The author's purpose in writing this passage is to... a. Express frustration about ODD. b. Prove that parents are the cause of ODD. c. Inform the reader about this complex condition. d. Persuade the reader to keep students with ODD out of public school.
C
300
What is the main idea of the passage? a. Argue that Black History Month should not be so commercial. b. Argue that Black History Month should be abolished. c. Argue that Black History Month should be maintained. d. Suggest that African-American history should be taught in two months rather than just one. e. Argue that African-American history is not part of mainstream curriculum.
B
400
What is the main idea of this passage? A. Potatoes from Ireland started the Potato Revolution. B. The average American eats 50 pounds of potatoes a year. C. French fries are made from potatoes. D. Potatoes are a key vegetable in America. E. The various terms for potatoes have a long history.
D
400
What is the main idea of this passage? A. Beavers may be hard-working animals, but they are not always efficient B. Beavers are excellent dam builders. C. New Hampshire was the site of the largest beaver dam. D. Beavers are well-developed tree cutters. E. Beavers are poor surveyors of aquatic environments in some cases.
A
400
What is the main idea of this passage? A. The creation of raisins in America was an accident. B. The process of raisin development requires multiple steps. C. Raisins on the grocery store shelf undergo a brief fermentation process. D. Raisins are cleaned thoroughly at the packing plant. E. California has been the leader in American raisin development.
A
400
What is the author's purpose in writing this passage? a. To persuade the reader to accept the Federalist Party's point of view. b. To explain the disagreements between early American political parties. c. To explain the importance of a strong central government. d. To criticize the founders of the Bank of the United States.
B
400
What is the author's purpose in the passage? a. To entertain the reader. b. To bore the reader. c. To persuade the reader. d. To inform the reader. e. To humor the reader.
D
500
What is the main idea? A) Flowers are beautiful in the spring B) Nature should be preserved C) People should garden more D) Poets are the best at capturing the beauty of nature.
D
500
What is the main idea? A) Shakespeare was awesome B) Shakespeare showed women as equals C) Shakespeare had women in his plays D) Women used to lack equal rights
B
500
Every year since 1986, some of the world's most daring runners have gathered in the desert of Morocco. They are there to take part in one of the most difficult races in the world. The Marathon of the Sands, as it is called, covers over 125 miles of desert and mountain wilderness. The runners complete the course in fewer than seven days, and they run with their food, clothing, and sleeping bags on their backs. What is the main idea of this passage? A. The Marathon of the Sands race tests the limits of human endurance. B. The runners run at their own paces. C. The race causes the strong to stumble and the weak to not finish. D. The seventh day is the hardest day of the race.
A
500
Why does Eddy Harris mention the calm day before the storm hits in "Mississippi Solo?" a) He prefers the stormy weather b) He wants to contrast this with the bad weather. c) He prefers the nice weather. d) He wants to persuade people to go down the Mississippi.
B
500
Why does Eddy Harris include personification in "Mississippi Solo?" a) To make his writing more interesting b) To allow the reader to understand the river c) Both a and b d) He thinks the river is a person.
C
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