Intermediate Reading Course. Section 1: The Basics
Main Idea and Supporting Details
Practice 1
In this exercise, you will practice distinguishing general and specific concepts. This skill is necessary to distinguish between general and specific ideas when reading a paragraph (that is, distinguishing main ideas from details).
Instructions. So far in this course, you have learned about paragraphs and main ideas and supporting details. In this exercise, you will see groups of words and phrases. One of them refers to a general concept while the others are specific ideas related to it. Your task is to Identify the general idea.
When you are finished, click “Answer” to check your answer.
Note. Your answers will not be submitted. When you leave this page, they will be deleted.
PDF Handout
Group 1: volleyball — swimming — sports — soccer
Sports. (Volleyball, swimming, and soccer are sports.)
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Group 2: adjectives — parts of speech — adverbs — transitive verbs
Parts of speech. (Adjectives, adverbs, and transitive verbs are parts of speech.)
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Group 3: profession — teaching — website design — research
Profession. (Teaching, website design, and research are professions.)
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Group 4: anger — love — fear — emotions
Emotions. (Anger, love, and fear are types of emotions.)
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Group 5: French — Danish — Spanish — European languages
European languages. (French, Danish, and Spanish are European languages.)
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Group 6: Hawaii — California — American states — Texas
American states. (Hawaii, California, and Texas are American states.)
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Group 7: Paris — Tokyo — Quebec — capital cities
Capital cities. (Paris, Tokyo, and Ottawa are capital cities; they are the capitals of France, Japan, and Canada.)
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Group 8: bicycles — buses — means of transportation — cargo ships
Means of transportation. (Bicycles, buses, and cargo ships are means of transportation.)
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Group 9: clothes — shirts — pants — dresses
Clothes. (Shirts, pants, and dresses are types of clothes.)
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Group 10: dogs — birds — pets — cats
Pets. (Dogs, birds, and cats are animals people keep as pets.)
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Group 11: comma — punctuation — question mark — colons
Punctuation. (Commas, question marks, and colons are types of punctuation.)
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Group 12: computer parts — mice — hard drives — monitors
Computer parts. (Mice, hard drives, and monitors are parts of a computer.)
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