Main Idea at the End

• Americans enjoy freedom of

expression. They have freedom of
movement within the country. They
have a high standard of living.
Certainly Americans enjoy many
advantages.
 Main Idea at the Beginning
• Americans enjoy many advantages.
Americans enjoy freedom of
expression. They have freedom of
movement within the country. They
have a high standard of living.
 Main Idea at the Beginning and at the End

• Americans enjoy many advantages.

Americans enjoy freedom of
expression. They have freedom of
movement within the country. They
have a high standard of living.
Americans are truly blessed in many
ways.
 Main Idea as Second Sentence
• The previous discussion has pointed out
the duties and responsibilities of being
an American citizen. Now let us turn to
the advantages enjoyed by Americans.
They enjoy freedom of expression. They
have freedom of movement within the
country. They have a high standard of
living.
 Main Idea Implied
• Americans enjoy freedom of
expression. They have
freedom of movement within
the country. They have a high
standard of living.
 Recognizing the Main Idea in a
Paragraph
• (1) The very finest kind of tea is called
pekoe tip or flowery pekoe. (2) It is
made from the leaf buds at the very end
of the branch. (3) The youngest leaf that
has opened on the branch is used to
make orange pekoe tea. (4) The next
youngest leaf produces pekoe tea. (5)
The third leaf up the twig is used in
making a tea called souchong first.
The Main Idea Is Implied

1 3 4 5
2
Recognizing the Main Idea in a Paragraph
• (1) Though the peoples of the Occident and the Orient
have different ways to worship, both groups share a
need to worship. (2) This is just one of several ways in
which the peoples of the West and the East have
similarities as well as differences. (3) Family life is not
exactly alike in the East and West, but love of family is
common to all civilizations. (4) Interest in education is
common to both peoples although their educational
systems stress different things. (5) Also, all peoples have
in common their dependence upon work in order to
make a living; but the ways in which they earn their
livelihoods are markedly different.
The Main Idea Is in the Sentence 2

1 3 4 5
Recognizing the Main Idea in a Paragraph
• (1) The first echelon of power in Communist China is formed
by Mao and his companions. (2) These are the Founding
Fathers, the men of the Long March and of Yenan, the
markers of faith and policy. (3) The second echelon consists
of perhaps a hundred men, who sit on the Central
Committee, run senior ministries, hold key posts in the Party
headquartes, or serve as Party, state, and army leaders
outside of Peking. (4) The third echelon holds key posts a
shade lower than those of the second. (5) These are the
provincial secretaries of the Party, army commissars, key
men in the army’s powerful General Political Department,
and governors. (6) These three echelons constitute the
governing power in the “Giant of Asia.”
The Main Idea Is in the Sentence 6

6
1 3 4
2 5