EOG Review - Main Idea 2

Weather reporters have to give out a lot of information. That's why they use pictures. The pictures help them tell us about the weather without using so many words. Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is. They need to know where the warm air is. They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area. Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short. The pictures help weather reporters get the information out in a fast way.
Which sentence best describes the main idea of the paragraph?

• Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is
• Pictures help weather reporters get information out in a fast way
• Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short
• They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area

The Outsiders Excerpt
By S. E. Hinton
When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman---he looks tough and I don't--- but I guess my own looks aren't so bad. I have light-brown, almost-red hair and greenish-gray eyes. I wish they were more gray, because I hate most guys that have green eyes, but I have to be content with what I have.My hair is longer than a lot of boys wear theirs,squared off in back and long at the front and sides, but I am a greaser and most of my neighborhood rarely bothers to get a haircut.Besides, I look better with long hair.
What is the main idea?

• The narrator likes movies.
• The narrator wishes he was Paul Newman.
• The narrator is content with his appearance.
• The narrator looks better with long hair.

Matilda Excerpt
By Roald Dahl
By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting. "Daddy," she said, "do you think you could buy me a book?" "A book,” he said. "Whatd' you want a flaming book for?" "To read, Daddy." "What's wrong with the telly, for heaven's sake? We've got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You're getting spoiled, my girl!"
What is the main idea?

• Matilda can read fast.
• Matilda is eager to learn and read more.
• Matilda is interested in cookbooks.
• Matilda’s dad won’t buy her a new book.

Sister Hood of the Traveling Pants Excerpt
By Ann Brashares
Once there were four girls who shared a pair of pants.The girls were all different sizes and shapes, and yet the pants fit each of them. You may think this is a suburban myth. But I know it's true, because I am one of them —one of the sisters of the Traveling Pants.We discovered their magic last summer, purely by accident. The four of us were splitting up for the first time in our lives. Carmen had gotten them from a secondhand place without even bothering to try them on. She was going to throw them away, but by chance,Tibby spotted them. First Tibby tried them; then me,Lena; then Bridget; then Carmen.By the time Carmen pulled them on, we knew something extraordinary was happening. If the same pants fit — and I mean really fit — the four of us, they aren't ordinary. They don't belong completely to the world of things you can see and touch. My sister, Effie,claims I don't believe in magic, and maybe I didn't then.But after the first summer of the Traveling Pants, I do.
What is the main idea?

• Four friends were connected through a special pair of pants.
• A pair of pants called the Traveling pants.
• Carmen finding a pair of pants from a second-hand shop.
• The girls believing in magic.

Pretty Little Liars Excerpt
By Sara Shepard
Imagine it's a couple of years ago, the summer between seventh and eighth grade. You're tan from lying out next to your rock-lined pool, you've got on your new Juicy sweats (remember when everybody wore those?), and your mind's on your crush, the boy who goes to that other prep school whose name we won't mention and who folds jeans at Abercrombie in the mall. You're eating your Cocoa Krispies just how you like 'em --- doused in skim milk --- and you see this girl's face on the side of the milk carton. Missing. She's cute --- probably cuter than you --- and has a feisty look in her eyes. You think, Hmm, maybe she likes soggy Cocoa Krispies too. And you bet she'd think Abercrombie boy was a hottie as well. You wonder how someone so . . . well, so much like you went missing. You thought only girls who entered beauty pageants ended up on the sides of milk cartons. Well,think again.
What is the main idea?

• The narrator enjoying her summer break by the pool.
• The importance of a middle school crush.
• A middle school girl wondering how an ordinary looking girl, like her, could go missing.
• The girl’s picture on the side of a milk carton to announce she is missing.

Sea of Monsters: Percy & the Olympians Excerpt
By Rick Riordan
My nightmare started like this.I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing.Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned. Florida, I thought. Though I wasn’t sure how I knew that. I’d never been to Florida. Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life. Yeah, I said hooves.Grover is a satyr. From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne. He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don’t recommend), you’d never know there was anything unhuman about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he’s got furry hindquarters and hooves. Grover had been my best friend in sixth grade. He’d gone on this adventure with me and a girl named Annabeth to save the world, but I hadn’t seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest—a quest no satyr had ever returned from.
What is the main idea of the dream?

• Grover is in danger.
• The main character is in danger.
• Florida is in the middle of a hurricane.
• The storm is building.

Life of Pi Excerpt
By Yann Martel
I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the Pacific, hanging on to an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me.Had I considered my prospects in the light of reason, I surely would have given up and let go of the oar,hoping that I might drown before being eaten. But I don’t recall that I had a single thought during those first minutes of relative safety. I didn’t even notice daybreak. I held on to the oar, I just held on, God only knows why. The elements allowed me to go on living.The lifeboat did not sink. Richard Parker kept out of sight. The sharks prowled but did not lunge. The waves splashed me but did not pull me off. I watched the ship as it disappeared with much burbling and belching. Lights flickered and went out. I looked about for my family, for survivors, for another lifeboat, for anything that might bring me hope. There was nothing. Only rain, marauding waves of black ocean and the flotsam of tragedy. The darkness melted away from the sky. The rain stopped.
What is the main idea?

• The tiger keeps the survivors from safety.
• The ship sinks with no survivors.
• The narrator explains the shipwreck and his survival.
• The elements allow the narrator to survive.

What is the central idea?
 There are many types of lethal venom in the animal kingdom, but perhaps no stranger carrier than the platypus. The platypus is one of few venomous mammals.  Males carry a venom cocktail in their ankle spurs that incapacitates victims with excruciating pain.  Stranger still, the platypus is the only mammal that uses electroreception.  What this means is that the platypus uses its bill to sense the electricity produced by the muscular movements of its prey.  The platypus neither sees, hears, nor smells its prey while hunting but, rather, pursues it through electroreception.  Perhaps most odd, the platypus is the only mammal that lays eggs rather than giving birth to live young.  The platypus is an odd creature indeed.  

• The platypus is an odd, poisonous creature.
• Platypus males have a poison ankle spur.
• Platypus can sense electricity
• None of these options

Though forks were first used in China thousands of years ago, it took a long time for them to make their way to what is now the United States. 
Ancient Greeks began using forks after the Chinese. However, they did not use forks for eating. They used them for serving food. From Greece, forks moved to the Roman Empire. Romans first used long forks for cooking and serving. By the 300s, they began using table forks to feed themselves. 
The table fork spread from there to what is now the Middle East and Turkey, before arriving in Italy and becoming popular in the 1000s. It stayed popular in southern Europe, but was not used much in northern Europe until it first became popular in France and Spain in the 1700s. 
The table fork arrived in England from France before making its way to the North American colonies, where it first became popular shortly before the American Revolution.

• The fork changed after arriving in the Roman Empire.
• Roman forks were longer than Greek and Chinese forks.

Select the supporting detail that doesn't fit.

Topic Sentence: There are many reasons people find clowns scary.

• People often think of the creepy clowns they've seen on movies such as "It."

• There have been some bad clowns in the news lately.

• Their face paint hides their true identity.

• Clowns make fun balloon animals.