Identify the central idea

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The most important point the author makes.

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Central Idea

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SUPPORTING DETAILS

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Details that explain the central idea

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What is the central idea of the passage?
Thomas Edison’s life span is known as “The age of Edison.” If it wasn’t for Thomas Edison, we might not have electric lights, telephones, movie cameras, or computers! Think of all the ways these great products affect our lives today. Edison held over 1,000 patents and received dozens of awards during his lifetime for his inventions and contributions to science.

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Thomas Edison was an important inventor

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What is the central idea of the passage?
The law was not exactly fair in the Middle Ages in Europe. Back then, you could blame someone in your town for committing a crime. The “criminal” could then challenge you to a fight to prove his guilt or innocence. If you lost the fight, you were charged as a liar and the criminal was believed to be innocent. If you won, the criminal was believed to be guilty.

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Laws were unfair in the Middle Ages

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What is the central idea of the passage?

In training to be a knight, a person was expected to study hard and learn good manners. They were taught to play musical instruments, sing, and recite poetry. They also studied reading, writing, geometry, and strategy games. Another knight would then teach the person to shoot a bow and arrow, fight with a sword, and ride a horse. To say the least, knights had a well-rounded education.

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Knights learned a variety of subjects while training

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What is the central idea of the passage? There are a lot of myths flying around about bats. One of these myths is that bats are blind. Bats can actually see quite well, some even better than people! Another myth is that bats are dirty. This is also untrue, as bats are very clean animals. Like cats, they spend lots of time grooming themselves.

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Bats are misunderstood animals

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What is the central idea of the passage?
In 1981, a new television channel was introduced to showcase musicians performing their songs in music videos. This channel was called MTV, or Music Television. Since the channel first went on the air, viewership has increased, and the channel has expanded to countries all over the world. Today, MTV not only shows music videos, but a variety of other television programming as well.

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MTV has been a ground-breaking TV channel

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What is the central idea of the passage?

William Shakespeare was a very prolific writer. By the time of his death at 52 years of age, he had written 37 plays, 154 poems, and two long, narrative poems. No other writer of his time produced as many high-quality works as Shakespeare. Among his most popular works are Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. His words have inspired many writers to this day!

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Shakespeare was a talented writer

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What is the central idea of the passage? Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. Many beautiful three-dimensional creations are made with this art. Starting with only one square of paper, you can fold and fold and fold, until you’ve created amazing models. With practice, you can learn to make abstract designs or recognizable animals such as cranes (a type of bird) or even dinosaurs.

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Origami is an interesting and beautiful art form

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What is the central idea of the passage?
Leonardo da Vinci was born in Italy long ago in the year 1452. Besides being a great artist, he is well-known for his many inventions. He kept notes on all of his ideas. Among his notes were designs for parachute, a diving suit, and a flying machine similar to today’s helicopter.

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Da Vinci was a man ahead of his time.