Main Idea, Summary, and Inference

 Despite the hatred that most people feel toward cockroaches, they do help humans in several ways. For example, they are perfect experimental animals and are used for scientific research in the laboratory. Breeding them is easy, for they thrive under almost any conditions. In studies on nutrition and food, cockroaches are good subjects because they will eat any kind of food. They can be used to study heart disease, and cancer researchers work with roaches because they grow cancerous tumors like those that are found in humans.
What is the main idea of this paragraph? (main idea)

• Cockroaches are vile, disgusting insects with no redeeming qualities.
• Cockroaches are genetically resilient insects with beneficial qualities.
• Cockroaches are easy to breed and thrive under almost any conditions.
• It’s obvious the world will be taken over by cockroaches.

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McDonald's is the king of a subgroup of restaurants called fast-food restaurants. Chances are, no matter where you live, there is a McDonald's restaurant near you. There are even McDonald's in the Soviet Union. Now McDonald's is trying something new. It is called McDonald's Express and there is a test site in Peabody, Massachusetts. It is part of a Mobil gas station. This allows you to fill up with gas and fill up on food at the same time. What will they think of next?
What is the main idea of this paragraph? (main idea)

•  Big Macs are disgusting and bad for you.
• Americans eat too much fast food as verified with the growing obesity epidemic.
• People enjoy the perks of fast food as seen with the expansion of McDonalds
• Peabody, Massachusetts is a tourist trap for burger-loving vacationers.

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What is an inference? (inference)

• It is a wild-guess.
• It is a comparison using like or as. 
• It is an educated guess, based on logic and evdience. 
• It is the use of exagerration as a rhetofical device. 

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You are on a bus.  You overhear two children speaking to their father.    Child A:  Do we get off at the next stop? Child B:  He said no! Child A:  Are you sure it’s open, Daddy? Child B:  He said yes! Child A:  I’ll bet we won’t even see the lions this time of year. Child B:  We’ll see lions, won’t we Daddy?
What inference can you make? (inference)

• Child A appears anxious.
• The family doesn’t know where they’re going.
• Child B is probably a girl.
•  Child B seems very happy.

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The trees glistened.  The snow sparkled.  Jennelle spun around in a blur of movement.  She gracefully extended one leg behind her while extending her arm toward Anthony.  Anthony lifted her up and onto his shoulders and walked in a circle, then put her down.  Jennelle bent her knees, rose to her toes and lifted both arms over her head, this time spinning away from Anthony.
The passage suggests that Jennelle... (inference)

• is slipping in the snow and trying to stay on her feet.
• was too heavy for Anthony to carry.
• was trying to keep the snow off of her feet.
• is a ballerina.

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The woman sat crying into her handkerchief as the man continued to shout at her.  She looked through her tears at the people sitting in a box to her left.  They were all strangers to her.  Would they come to her rescue?  Would they believe her?  She wondered.  Finally, a woman wearing a black robe told her she could step down.
What is probably the setting for this story? (Inference)

• A stage
  
• a dream
• A courtroom
• a movie theater

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What is the difference between subject and main idea? (main idea)

• Subject and main idea are the same thing. 
• Subject is what the text is about; the main idea is what the author wants to tell you about the subject. 
• The main idea is the topic of a text; the subject is what the author wants to tell you about the main idea

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A summary should include: (summary)

• supporting details
• main ideas and key details
• only the main idea
• only details

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A summary should include your opinion. (summary)

• True 
• False

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A summary should be about as long as the original text,  and it should include all supporting details. (summary)

• True
• False

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