OSSLT Identifying the Main Idea 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A short story follows a teenager who struggles to join a sports team, fails twice, but persists and succeeds on the third try. What is the main idea?
- Sports teams should be more inclusive of new players.
- Persistence in the face of failure leads to eventual success. (Correct answer)
- Teenagers face unfair obstacles in competitive activities.
- Joining a sports team improves a teenager's social life.
Correct answer: Persistence in the face of failure leads to eventual success.
The repeated failure and ultimate success convey the story's central message about the value of perseverance.
Question 2: A passage has five sentences. Four discuss benefits of reading, and one mentions the cost of books. What is the main idea?
- Books are too expensive for many readers to afford.
- Reading offers important benefits, though books can be costly.
- The cost of books is the biggest barrier to reading.
- Reading has many advantages worth celebrating. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Reading has many advantages worth celebrating.
Four of the five sentences support benefits of reading, so that is the dominant and central idea of the passage.
Question 3: An OSSLT reading selection about a scientist ends with: 'Her discoveries changed medicine forever.' How does this sentence function in the passage?
- It introduces a new topic for the next section.
- It restates or reinforces the main idea as a conclusion. (Correct answer)
- It contradicts the supporting details given earlier.
- It provides a specific statistic to support a claim.
Correct answer: It restates or reinforces the main idea as a conclusion.
A strong concluding sentence often restates the main idea, summarizing the significance of everything discussed.
Question 4: A graphic text is a poster showing steps for hand-washing with brief labels. What is the main idea of this graphic text?
- Hand-washing is difficult and requires many steps.
- Proper hand-washing technique involves specific sequential steps. (Correct answer)
- Soap is the most important tool for preventing illness.
- People do not wash their hands correctly without instructions.
Correct answer: Proper hand-washing technique involves specific sequential steps.
The poster's purpose is to teach the correct procedure for hand-washing, which is the central idea conveyed by the steps and labels.
Question 5: Which answer choice would be too broad to serve as the main idea of a short passage about recycling plastic bottles?
- Recycling plastic bottles reduces landfill waste.
- People should recycle plastic bottles more consistently.
- Environmental responsibility is important for everyone. (Correct answer)
- Plastic bottles take hundreds of years to decompose.
Correct answer: Environmental responsibility is important for everyone.
A statement about all of environmental responsibility is too general to be the main idea of a passage specifically about recycling plastic bottles.
Question 6: A passage about Canadian winters describes heavy snowfall, road closures, and school cancellations. What is the main idea?
- Canadians enjoy outdoor winter activities like skiing.
- Severe winter weather significantly disrupts daily life in Canada. (Correct answer)
- Road closures are the most dangerous effect of winter storms.
- Schools should remain open during minor snowstorms.
Correct answer: Severe winter weather significantly disrupts daily life in Canada.
All three details—snow, road closures, and school cancellations—illustrate how winter weather disrupts normal routines.
Question 7: A student reads a passage and writes: 'This passage is about dogs.' A teacher says the summary is too vague. What should the student add?
- The author's name and the publication date of the passage
- What specific point about dogs the passage is making (Correct answer)
- A list of all the dog breeds mentioned in the passage
- The number of paragraphs in the passage about dogs
Correct answer: What specific point about dogs the passage is making
A useful main idea statement identifies the topic AND what specific claim or point the passage makes about that topic.
OSSLT Identifying the Main Idea 4
A short story follows a teenager who struggles to join a sports team, fails twice, but persists and succeeds on the third try.
What is the main idea?