HPC1033 - Finding main ideas and supporting details

Today, millions of people want to learn or improve their English but it is difficult to find the best method. Is it better to study in Britain or America or to study in your own country?

The advantages of going to Britain seem obvious. Firstly, you will be able to listen to the language all the time you are in the country. You will be surrounded completely by the language wherever you go. Another advantage is that you have to speak the language if you are with other people. In Italy, it is always possible, in the class, to speak Italian if you want to and the learning is slower.

What is the topic of the paragraphs above?

• English learning

• Benefits of learning English

• Benefits of studying abroad

• None of the above.

On the other hand, there are also advantages to staying at home to study. You don't have to make big changes to your life. As well as this, it is also a lot cheaper than going to Britain but it is never possible to achieve the results of living in the UK. If you have a good teacher in Italy, I think you can learn in a more concentrated way than being in Britain without going to a school.

What is the main idea of the this paragraph?

• Making choices

• Teaching Italy

• Homeschooling benefits

• Concentrated learning

Today, millions of people want to learn or improve their English but it is difficult to find the best method. Is it better to study in Britain or America or to study in your own country?

The advantages of going to Britain seem obvious. Firstly, you will be able to listen to the language all the time you are in the country. You will be surrounded completely by the language wherever you go. Another advantage is that you have to speak the language if you are with other people. In Italy, it is always possible, in the class, to speak Italian if you want to and the learning is slower.

Write the stated idea (explicit main idea) for paragraph 2.

On the other hand, there are also advantages to staying at home to study. You don't have to make big changes to your life. As well as this, it is also a lot cheaper than going to Britain but it is never possible to achieve the results of living in the UK. If you have a good teacher in Italy, I think you can learn in a more concentrated way than being in Britain without going to a school.

What is the stated main idea (explicit) of the this paragraph?

So, in conclusion, I think that if you have enough time and enough money, the best choice is to spend some time in the UK. This is simply not possible for most people, so being here in Italy is the only viable option. The most important thing to do in this situation is to maximise your opportunities: to speak only English in class and to try to use English whenever possible outside the class.

What is the stated main idea (explicit main idea) of the paragraph?

• So, in conclusion, I think that if you have enough time and enough money, the best choice is to spend some time in the UK.

• I think that if you have enough time and enough money, the best choice is to spend some time in the UK.

• The most important thing to do in this situation is to maximise your opportunities: to speak only English in class and to try to use English whenever possible outside the class.

• maximizing opportunities to learn English

In 2010, the planetary defence team at NASA had identified and logged 90 per cent of the asteroids near Earth measuring 1km wide. These 'near-Earth objects', or NEOs, are the size of mountains and include anything within 50 million kilometres of Earth's orbit. With an estimated 50 left to log, NASA says none of the 887 it knows about are a significant danger to the planet.

identify the stated main idea (explicit main idea).

A paragraph consists of only one stated main idea and a few supporting details. True or false?

Now NASA is working towards logging some of the smaller asteroids, those measuring 140 metres wide or more. Of the 25,000 estimated asteroids of this size, so far about 8,000 have been logged, leaving 17,000 unaccounted for. Considering that a 19-metre asteroid that exploded above the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 injured 1,200 people, these middle-sized asteroids would be a serious danger if they enter Earth's orbit.

What is the implicit main idea of this paragraph?

• Dangers of asteroids

• Asteroid explosion

• Registration of asteroids

• Categories of asteroids

Whether NASA can find the remaining middle-sized NEOs depends on getting the money to build NEOCam, a 0.5-metre space telescope which would use infrared light to locate asteroids. If it did get the money, it could probably achieve its goal in ten years. Once logged, the planetary defence team would still need to work out how to defend the planet against being hit by the truly worrying asteroids – the PHAs.

What is the main idea (implicit) of this paragraph?

• Finding NEOs (near-Earth objects)

• The importance of funding NEOCam

• Planetary defence team

• the PHAs

Stated main idea (explicit main idea) is also known as _____ ________.