FINDING MAIN IDEAS AND SUPPORTING DETAILS

The most valuable reading comprehension skill is probably the ability to determine the most important thing an author is saying. Read the following paragraph to see if you can distinguish between essential and nonessential information and between the main idea and the supporting details.


Sample Reading Passage 1

Left-handed people suffer more from stress than their right-handed peers, according to a study of 1,100 adults by University of Michigan researchers. As a result, they smoke and drink more. Fifty-five percent of the lefties

(5)

smoked, whereas fewer than half of the righties smoked. Furthermore, the lefties consumed more alcohol per year than their right-handed counterparts.


The main idea is

absence is the mother of disillusion

A period of separation may enable you to consider people or things more objec- tively and see them in a truer but less favorable light: While her boyfriend was away she became increasingly aware of all his little faults, which she had ignored when they were together—absence is the mother of disillusion. The proverb is recorded as a regional expression in the United States.