How to determine the main idea of ​​a sentence. How to determine the topic of a text? Algorithm for performing exercises. Examples. How to learn to highlight the main idea

When studying a text, be it a fiction novel, a scientific dissertation, a pamphlet, a poem, an anecdote, the first thing the reader asks, going through words and sentences, is what is written here, what did the author want to express with a set of these particular words? When the writer has managed to fully reveal his plan, it is not difficult to understand it; the main idea of ​​the text is clear already in the process of reading, and runs like a leitmotif through the entire narrative. But when the idea itself is ephemeral, and even expressed not literally, but through metaphors and figurative descriptions, it can be quite difficult to understand the author. Each reader will see in the main idea of ​​the text something of his own, close, depending on his worldview and level of position in society. And it is very likely that what the reader learns and understands will be far from such a thing as the main idea of ​​the text, which the author himself tried to put into the work.

The importance of defining the main idea

In most cases, the general impression is formed even before the last phrase is read, and the high ideas of the writer with which he set to work remain incomprehensible or completely unknown. In this case, it is very difficult for the average person to understand the delights of his friends or the positive reviews of respected experts on this work. Bewilderment over the fact that someone found something special in him, and someone did not, can, at best, puzzle, at worst, create a certain The latter concerns especially impressionable readers, and there are many of them. It is worth paying attention to the works that have caused polar reviews Special attention and understand what caused these impressions.

It is necessary to determine the main idea of ​​the text. How to do it? To begin with, you should answer a few questions: “What did the author want to express and convey to the reader in his work, what made him take up the pen?” It is possible to determine the tasks that a writer, journalist or publicist set for himself based on a comparison of the time the text was written and the time where the author transferred the events described in it.

Typical examples of determining the main thing in the text

A rather characteristic example of this method of cognition is the immortal and brilliant work of Mikhail Bulgakov “ dog's heart" Each sentence and entire passage contains the writer’s allegorical attitude to the events taking place in the country after the 1917 revolution. Here the theme and main idea of ​​the text are veiled under the implausible transformation of one living individual into another under the influence of intervention external factors. Bulgakov's attitude to global transformations in the state and the minds of its citizens is expressed as accurately and frankly as possible. He conveyed his position to the reader through the stylistic presentation of the text, coverage of the entire range of problems that arose in the country at that time, using the example of the private life of the inhabitants of a single apartment and their relationships with others. By comparing the important and minor events described in the story and taking place in the country, you can understand how to find the main idea of ​​the text through the author’s presentation of these events.

Looking up to the author

In addition to the given example of determining the main idea in a work, there are several ways general, without reference to a specific author and his work. The most common one is a careful reading of the text and highlighting several main associations that arose during the reading process. If the first time you managed to understand the author and what he writes about, there is no need to rush to assert that the main idea of ​​the text has been found. It’s better to convey your understanding of the topic in one or two sentences, and then re-read the work again. If the conviction that everything was understood correctly the first time is established, it means that the main idea of ​​the text is presented clearly and with perfect presentation. But if with each subsequent reading more and more new associations arise, you should try to penetrate more deeply into what has been presented and, at the same time, familiarize yourself with reviews of this work by the author. It is likely that no one else understood anything except himself. And in this case, it may be impossible to choose a method for finding the main idea of ​​the text.

Fortunately, there are very few works for the general public that are not amenable to analysis and reasonable perception, and similar difficulties may arise when becoming familiar with topics of a narrow specific nature, but they, as a rule, arouse interest among a certain circle of readers whose way of thinking and life are similar main topic these works.

If the topic is set by the author himself

So let's go back to general rule determining the main idea of ​​the text. After rereading the work two or three times, if opportunity, desire and necessity require it, it is important to understand exactly what it is about and retell its essence. Sometimes the main thing in the text is hidden by layers of overly lush and flowery phrases, it all depends on the style of presentation of the topic by the author. But if you managed to formulate the main thing in one short and laconic phrase, it means that the author managed to convey to the reader his attitude towards the events or characters described.

From title to text

Sometimes the main idea of ​​a work is contained in its table of contents. This happens quite often. Sometimes the title is the key to the entire work, and in this case the method for determining the main idea of ​​the text is to express it in a detailed manner. For example, the theme of Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” is determined by a direct answer to the question posed in its table of contents or in characteristic chapters describing Vera Pavlovna’s dreams. The title of the novel at the end of the phrase contains the key to finding the main idea. If the title of the text contains proper names, the attitude towards them that has developed after reading is also the key to determining the main thing in what is stated.

Read and think

And finally, another characteristic way of determining the main idea of ​​the text. To do this, you need to understand what conclusions the author himself draws from what the story was about. This can be framed as a certain conclusion to which the author led the reader, and at the end of the work, with a few phrases, he drew a line under his idea. Using the example of morality in fables, it is clear that in such cases the main idea is determined by the author himself, and the reader can either agree with it or not.

Most often in literature lessons, but sometimes in Russian there are assignments in which the teacher requires students to determine the main or main idea of ​​a work.

However, in order to find the correct answer, and, accordingly, get a good grade, the guys must understand what this task is about. That is, what is meant by the main idea of ​​a work or its individual sentence.

To understand this issue as thoroughly as possible, read the article. And you will find out what the main idea of ​​the text is.

What is text

The text does not have to be voluminous and consist of several simple, complex or complex sentences. There are even literary works that contain only one succinct and understandable sentence.

And it itself is not always a long structure. Often in speech or writing you can find a form where all the necessary information is conveyed in a single word.

Nevertheless, no matter what form a story, poem, or everyday dialogue is presented, it certainly contains the main idea of ​​​​the text.

What is the connection between sentences grammatically and in meaning?

In most cases, we are faced with texts that contain not one, but a whole group of sentences. The main condition for composing a complete, logical, meaningful and interesting text is the obligatory connection of these sentences grammatically and in meaning:

    Grammatical connection implies the dependence of the word forms of the current sentence on those used in the previous and subsequent ones. That is, proposals must be coordinated, as if one follows from the other.

    Connection of sentences by meaning means that the entire text is connected by sentences and the main idea (common to the entire text), which can be traced in each of them.

Types of semantic connections between sentences in the text

So, we found out that sentences must be connected grammatically and in meaning. However, the semantic connection must be built competently and logically. To do this, it is important to learn the following classification of connections between sentences in text or speech:

    Chain- the peculiarity of the construction of the text is that each subsequent sentence reveals in more detail the content of the current one. For example: The brown bear lives in the forest. The forest is the place where these animals build dens, hunt, and breed. From an early age, bear cubs learn to get their own food, with their mother bear helping them with this.

    Parallel - the nature of this connection is different; it implies equality of proposals (enumeration, comparison, opposition), and not “clinging” of one to the other. For example: The weather was great outside and it was snowing. Vaska and I decided to meet and go sledding down the mountain. Only when we barely climbed to the top, and I was already preparing to race down, did my friend chicken out. The idea failed, and the mood was ruined.

Thus, in order to understand what the main idea of ​​the text is, you should delve into the content and perform a mental analysis of each sentence.

Topic and main idea of ​​the text

Additional parts of speech help to fit sentences organically into the text. For example, you can use conjunctions, particles, introductory words, pronouns, etc. After all, they give liveliness, brightness and richness to a dry statement of facts.

The correct (in meaning and grammatical) construction of sentences serves precisely to form the main idea and, consequently, the theme of the text.

The theme is the direction of the work, the problem that is raised in it, its essence. It determines what the narrative is, the content of the text. Often expressed directly in the title.

The main (main) idea is the author’s message to the readers, what he wanted to convey to people, to the world with the help of his work. It can be expressed in the title or in one of the sentences of the text, but more often it is necessary to “fish out” it yourself by carefully reading the entire text.

Why is it important to be able to extract the main idea from works?

Do you remember the saying that sounded in the famous work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, which your parents and grandparents probably read to you as a child? If not, here's what it is: “The fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows!”

Later this expression became catchphrase, relating to almost all children's stories described in books. And to many adult works too. After all, a “lesson” is a combination of the theme and main idea of ​​any work. Something that has a certain educational influence on us.

However, in order to catch this very hint, you need to figure out what the main idea of ​​​​the fairy tale implies. In other words, learn to independently determine the theme and main idea of ​​the text.

How to learn to highlight the main idea

In order to correctly identify the idea of ​​a work, you should remember the following aspects that are important to follow when reading any text:

    Follow the flow of the story, the development of events and logic.

    Pay attention to headings (they can be metaphorical or associative) and keywords that alternate with synonyms throughout the text.

    As you read, analyze what is important for the author, what points he places more emphasis on.

    After reading the work, try to quote from the text or formulate your own conclusion to the narrative.

Remember: compliance with the evaluation criteria described above, as well as a combination of synthesis and analysis of both the entire text and its individual details, will help you understand what the main idea of ​​the text is.

Hello, dear editors of the Russian Language!
Your regular reader, Valentina Mikhailovna Mikhailova, writes to you. I live in a rural area. Your application is a great help in my work. Unfortunately, a rural teacher is deprived of many things: rural libraries are poor, the city is far away, and expensive. And the only way out is to subscribe.
I work in national school, where Russian is a non-native language of instruction. It is with regret that we have to state this fact: every year, fewer and fewer hours are allocated to studying the Russian language in non-Russian schools. In primary classes, for example, students can study Russian for 7 hours a week. That's all. Other subjects are taught in the native language. From class to class, the number of hours allocated to studying the Russian language decreases.
And after graduating from school, a student who studied under the program of national schools, along with lyceum students, gymnasium students, and Russian-speaking schoolchildren, must pass the Unified State Examination in the Russian language. Is this fair?
A large number of textbooks have been developed for Russian schools. What do scientists offer to the national school? One single approved textbook for each class, the quality of which leaves much to be desired. Where is the way out? The solution is simple: use what has been developed for Russian schools.
I really like the books by the group of authors G.G. Granik, L.A. Kontsevoy, S.M. Bondarenko. So the book of this group of authors, “When a Book Teaches,” written in lively, figurative language, became for me a support in teaching schoolchildren the skills of independent work with an educational book. I call such books books for the mind and heart.
I bring to your attention a lesson taught on this book in 7th grade at the end of the first quarter. One of several. I would like to especially highlight the fact that not sporadic, but purposeful work was carried out. At the end of the lesson plan I provide short excerpts from the students’ essays. They are imperfect. Please treat them with understanding. It is very difficult for a student who thinks in his native language to express his thoughts in Russian.
My students really like this type of work. Firstly, they learn to independently acquire knowledge; secondly, they enrich their vocabulary.
I hope that teachers working in rural schools will include working with the book in their practice. I'm not sure that our teachers have this book in their personal libraries. This means they will have a reason to “get” her. Unfortunately, I must admit that the new teaching aids, produced by this group of authors, I was not able to purchase.
Sincerely,

Valentina Mikhailovna Mikhailova

V.M. MIKHAILOVA,
Chuvash Republic

Lesson topic: “Identifying the main idea in the text”

7th grade

Target: development of skills for highlighting the main idea in a text.

DURING THE CLASSES

I. Repetition.

(It's amazing how quickly we forget. The only way to retain knowledge in memory is repetition.)

– The ability to independently work with a textbook and any other book is necessary not only when you are sitting at your desk: you will have to acquire knowledge on your own throughout your life. What does this skill consist of? To master a text means, first of all, to understand and remember it. What it means to remember a text is clear: if you retold it without loss, it means you remember it. What does it mean to understand the content of a text?

After reading the assigned material, understanding it and remembering it well, you find yourself at the board. As long as you retell what you have learned, everything goes fine. But then the teacher starts asking questions. And something unexpected happens to you: you cannot answer some questions related to this seemingly acquired material. Why? And doubt arises: did you understand the text? Therefore, no!

How should you work with the text in order to understand it more deeply and remember it easier? In previous lessons, we constructed a model of the “ideal reader.” What is the sequence of work of the “ideal reader” with the text?

    (1st stage. Work before reading.

    2nd stage. Work while reading.

    3rd stage. Working on the text after reading.)

– What does the work include before starting reading? (Work with the title. The title is “ Entrance door» text. Mental processing of the title is the first step to understanding the author's idea. After reading the title, the “ideal reader” asks himself: “What is this going to be about? What do I have to learn?

Working with the epigraph. The epigraph is the authorized representative of the main idea. Along with the title, the correct reading of the epigraph is a “trigger” moment on the way to the main idea: after all, the epigraph most often expresses the idea of ​​the text in a generalized, allegorical way.)

– Let us turn to the reader’s work at the 2nd stage, i.e. as you read. We have chosen an epigraph for the lesson on this topic:

My joy is mental flight
From books, from page to page.

This stage of work has its own core, the main direction of reading. This is a dialogue with text. What does it mean to have a dialogue with a text?

(If the reader is not indifferent to the content of the text, then as he reads, questions arise: why? What follows from this? Asking these questions and finding answers to them leads to an understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships that permeate the text.)

– After the dialogue with the text is completed, the “ideal reader” begins work related to the entire text as a whole. What does he highlight in the text first?

II. Explanation of new material. Highlighting the main idea.

– Let’s imagine that you have learned to talk with text. Is this enough to fully understand the material? Unfortunately, the ability to conduct a dialogue with a text does not always lead to the main result of understanding - highlighting the main idea. The text can embody not one thought, but a set of thoughts, equivalent or organized hierarchically. Even the smallest text can contain more than one significant thought. Let me give as an example an anonymous Spanish epigram from the 18th century:

How do I feel about the king?
Yes, just like everything else in the world.
I love him from the bottom of my heart
Depicted on a coin.

There are at least two thoughts in these four lines. First: the author of the epigram, just like everyone else in the world, loves the king only after his death. (In Spain at that time, images on coins were minted only after the death of the king.) The second is that this is actually love not for the king, but for money.

Expanded texts can contain many thoughts with at different levels generalizations - from generalization in the context of a given work to generalization at the level of universal spiritual values.

Famous teacher of the past V.I. Vodovozov once read Krylov’s fable “The Dragonfly and the Ant” to his little students and wanted the children to come to the conclusion about the value of hard work and condemn frivolity. But the students were moved by the fate of the poor dragonfly. They said: “The ant is so cruel! Of course, he is right that he thought about winter in advance, he worked. But the dragonfly is so beautiful! And what bad did she do? She sang and jumped all summer. It was so fun! In the summer, under each leaf, both a table and a house were ready.

On the differences in people's understanding of the same works of different ages One of the eastern sages said it well: “Reading a book in your youth is like looking at the moon through a crack. Reading books as an adult is like looking at the moon in the middle of your yard. Reading books in old age is like admiring the moon from a high open terrace. Because the depth of penetration into what you read corresponds to the accumulated life experience.” ( C. Zhang. Shadows of calm dreams // Leafing through eternal pages. M., 1983. P. 132.)

Does this mean that the main meaning of the work is something devoid of objective meaning and depends on the subjective approach of the readers? Not at all. Differences that appear when reading the same work different people, fluctuate only within the limits that the text “sets”. Nothing alien to the text can be imposed on it.

To learn and become accustomed to highlighting main idea, it is necessary to develop “mental mechanics”, which is responsible for highlighting the main idea.

III. Training tasks.

Section I . Here are texts in which the main idea is expressed in words, and you need to find it.

Exercise 1. Find lines in the text that express the main idea.

The old sailor was talking about the sea.
“The sea can be generous,” he said.
“It can be sad,” he said.
“He can be hard-hearted,” he said.
“It can be desperate,” he said.
“The sea can be different,” he said.
“It can be clean and dirty,” he said.
- Mysterious and revealed,
Powerful, grumpy, angry...
The sea is like a person!

(Rasul Rza)

(The sea is different. The sea is like a person!)

Task 2. Find in text of the word, expressing the main idea, and explain their meaning.

The sun has set
behind the woods,
became a forest
and dark
and tall.
Someone's lurking
behind the pine tree,
something rustled
behind the back,
caught fire in the Christmas trees
lights...
Oh! –
The eyes of fear
great.

(V. Levanovsky)

(Fear's eyes are big.)

Section II . This section offers texts in which the main idea follows from the content, but is not stated directly. We need to bring it out and express it in our own words.

Exercise 1. Explain the main idea of ​​these poems.

The apple fell from the cart
and, as usual, it disappeared,
because it didn't hit
not a damn thing,
not in compote.
It's good that it didn't hit
It's great that it's gone,
It’s wonderful that it fell
you see - the apple tree is growing!

(V. Levanovsky)

(This poem talks about the fact that you shouldn’t be upset over small losses, but you should be happy if your loss turns into something good for other people.)

I heard:
Hedgehog
She called - she called home,
She whispered calmly and quietly:
- My smooth one,
My soft...
Rocked
Beetle bug,
Rocked
Under the cherry tree in the shade
And she sang long and thin:
- My little white boy,
Fall asleep...
Little hare
Woke up:
- Well, what about you, my little lion,
Are you sleeping?
Let's go hunting, my dear,
My strong
My brave baby...
And you and I
We dance merrily
We collect flowers in the ditch.
And I you
Our sunshine
And our joy
I'm calling.

(D. Blynsky)

(The main idea of ​​this poem is that all mothers on earth love their children very much and consider them the best.)

Task 2. Explain the essence of the treatment that the doctor recommended to the patient.

LATEST RECIPE

Englishman Robert Tibson has long suffered from his obesity. Moreover, most of his friends and acquaintances - classic Englishmen, dry and thin - make fun of him all the time.
The doctor to whom Tibson decided to turn for help said: “I will teach you one very simple exercise, and you will quickly get in shape.”
“How, doctor,” Tibson was surprised, “just one exercise? Are you joking? Will not help..."
“It will help, and very quickly.
Whenever you are offered something tasty, shake your head no. Repeat this movement every time, don’t be lazy!
I assure you: very soon you will lose excess weight.
My recipe is the newest, no doubt!”

IV. Work with text.

Many writers and scientists structure texts in such a way “that words are cramped, thoughts are spacious” (N. Nekrasov). From such texts one can extract more content than is at first glance contained in the words.

(The text offered to students, like all already proposed texts, is available to each student.)

Two and a half thousand years ago there lived King Cyrus. He conquered many lands and destroyed thousands of enemy warriors.
You can read about this king in every history textbook.
At the same time, on a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, King Panso ruled his people. He did not conquer anything, did not destroy anyone, and history books do not mention him. Only an old, old parable brought his name to us.
One day, the parable tells, a storm broke out, and the ship of King Cyrus hurried to take refuge in a quiet bay of a small green island. King Cyrus found himself in the possession of King Panso. Cyrus wanted to know by what laws the people in this kingdom lived. At this time, two residents came to King Panso with a request to judge them. “King Panso! - said one of those who came. “I bought a wasteland from this man, began to dig there and found a treasure. “Take for yourself,” I tell him, “this treasure: I bought wasteland from you, not gold.” Another answered: “I, like you, am afraid of the sin of appropriating someone else’s property. I sold you the wasteland along with everything that is in it, from the depths of the earth to the heights of heaven.” "Do you have a son?" – the king asked one of them. "I have." “Do you have a daughter?” – the king asked the other. "Eat". - “Marry them, and give the treasure to them as a dowry.” Seeing King Cyrus' surprise, King Panso asked him: “Have I judged these people poorly? How would such a dispute be resolved in your country?” “I,” answered Cyrus, “would cut off the heads of both complainants, and take the treasure to the royal treasury.” - “Does the sun shine in your country?” - asked Panso. “It is shining,” answered Cyrus. “And is it raining?” - “They’re coming.” “Do you have any cattle?” - "Eat". “Your people are worthy of curses,” Panso said quietly, fearlessly looking into the eyes of the formidable king. (A. Sharov).

– What don’t you understand in this text? (I repeat this question 3 times. Unfortunately, a new, unfamiliar word slips past the students’ consciousness and does not evoke a desire to find out what it is. The student must understand every word, every phrase, every phraseological turn included in the text. If the students answer that They understand everything, you can ask them who King Cyrus is, what the words parable, bay, wasteland, etc. mean, the combination of the sin of appropriating someone else’s...)

– Now tell us as much as possible about each of the rulers and about the life of their people, without adding anything, but also without losing sight of anything.

A variant answer from a student’s essay, given by the authors of the book “When a Book Teaches.” (G.G. Granik, S.M. Bondarenko, L.A. Kontsevaya. When the book teaches. 2nd ed., additional. M.: Pedagogika, 1991. P. 95.)

The great and formidable king Cyrus destroyed thousands of inhabitants in the lands he conquered. But his people also lost many healthy and strong young men in these conquests. The power of King Cyrus was terrible for his subjects: he could rob and kill any innocent person. His people were oppressed and unhappy, and Cyrus's great victories did not make life any easier for the common people.
In the domain of King Panso, the people were kind and honest and did not lose sons in wars of conquest. The people came to their king openly and trustingly, and he resolved their disputes fairly and kindly. They were a small, poor, but happy people.

I will give excerpts from the writings of my students.

“There lived a great and formidable king Cyrus. He conquered many lands and destroyed thousands of enemy soldiers, without sparing civilians. Cyrus was cruel and greedy. Victories pleased his pride. And the people he ruled were worthy of their king. As King Panso said: “Your people are worthy of curses...” ( Yakovleva T.)

“...He was cruel not only with his enemies, but also with his people. His “great” victories did not bring happiness ordinary people. How many mothers must have mourned their sons who died in the wars started by Cyrus because of his exorbitant ambition!..” ( Moscow E.)

“Cyrus was very cruel, he destroyed thousands of enemy warriors and inhabitants of the conquered lands. It seems to me that his people were very afraid of their ruler. The text says that Cyrus would cut off the heads of the complainers. His people lived in fear. Cyrus only knew how to kill.
King Panso was fair and kind, so people came to him asking him to judge them in this or that dispute. His people rejoiced in the sun, the rain... They were afraid of the sin of appropriating someone else's, i.e. lived according to divine laws. Every war begins with the desire to appropriate someone else’s property, which is why King Panso did not start wars...” ( Maksimova E.)

“King Panso judged the complainants fairly, but did not think about one thing: will their children love each other? Marrying not for love can lead to unhappiness...” (Pavlova T.)

“I think that the people of this small island in the middle of the Mediterranean are happy because they are ruled by King Panso. King Panso does not fight with his neighbors. People live in peace. People do not lose their sons in wars. He rejoices in the sun and rain. People in this kingdom are honest, they are afraid of the sin of appropriating someone else's..." ( Vasiliev O.)

V. Homework assignment.

Tell us in more detail about each of the workers described in the text.

One traveler passed by a large construction site where many workers were working. He stopped one worker who was carrying a heavy wheelbarrow with stones and asked him: “What are you doing?” "Do not you see? - he answered. “I’m pushing a heavy car, damn it!” Then the traveler asked the same question to a second worker who was transporting the same wheelbarrow. “I earn bread for my family,” the second worker answered with dignity. A third worker with the same wheelbarrow proudly answered the same question from the traveler: “I am building a beautiful temple!”

A short story is a form of literary work. As a rule, stories have a small amount of text. In this way they are not like novels or even stories, which have a much larger volume.

What is the main idea in a story

It is important to understand that any story is a story that is told in the form of a narrative. The story cannot be meaningless. Otherwise, no one will publish it, and it will remain only in the personal collection of a graphomaniac. The concept of the main idea of ​​the story can be revealed as follows:

  • every story has some meaning. It is in expressing this meaning and idea that the task of the writer lies. All the literary techniques he uses are aimed at achieving this goal. It is necessary to express the main idea of ​​the story and this must be done in an interesting and vivid way. Then readers will like the story, they will remember it and perceive the main idea contained in it;
  • The main idea is the idea of ​​the entire story that the author conveys to the readers. He uses various techniques. One such technique is the use of keywords. They, like beacons, “illuminate” the entire text, giving it color and uniqueness. For example, in a story about a sea voyage, the appropriate terminology and the names of the countries and peoples that the traveler encountered will certainly be used. Keywords make a story more meaningful and believable;
  • the main idea must be correctly understood by readers. After all, this is the essence of the whole story. It was for her sake that the writer sat down to work.

Thus, the main idea of ​​the story is the idea that the author tried to express.

What are the main thoughts?

The idea of ​​a story may be to express the importance life values. These are deep stories. They emphasize the importance of patriotism, healthy image life, truthfulness. There are also many humorous stories. Then you need to make it really funny. At the same time, you need to keep the main idea. After all, every joke has a meaning, which is conveyed in the story.

Every text has a main and a secondary point. The ability to highlight the main thing can help reduce the time spent working with text or documents by 50%.

Strong text positions

To assimilate what is written means, first of all, to understand what the text is about, to grasp its essence. It is easier to remember and assimilate the main thing, the main thing, than the text as a whole. It should be remembered that any text has several “strong” positions. Firstly, this is the heading, as well as subheadings, if any. You should not ignore this position of the text, since the title logically contains the main thing, what will be discussed in the text. This is the first step to understanding the main idea of ​​the text. Secondly, the very beginning of the text contains something important for revealing its main idea.

We are looking for the main thing

Expanded texts can contain not one, but several thoughts. But among them it is necessary to find and isolate the main one. To do this, you should read the text thoughtfully, slowly, with a pencil in your hands, noting as you work the words and phrases that you think are important. According to teacher Kamensky, the initial mood for thoughtful reading increases its assimilation several times. When reading again, when the meaning of what has been written has already become clear to you, the list of key words and phrases should be slightly reduced, by about 5 times.

Then you must ask yourself the question: which of the marked phrases most express the essence of what was written, the main idea of ​​the text, its theme. And those few words, or perhaps just one phrase, that remain with you will be the core of the text that you are looking for. To check the correctness of your conclusions, try to expand the phrase you have isolated. If the result is a text close to the original, it means .

Also, to check whether you have understood the meaning of the text correctly, refer to the summary of the text. This is the third “strong” position of the text, along with the title and the beginning of the test. It should also not be ignored, it will help you isolate the main thing.

Drawing up an outline will help you find the main idea in the text. It may consist of several points. Their number can be equal to the number of paragraphs in the text. After all, a paragraph is a logical division of text into micro-topics.

The ability to identify the main thing in a text is an important component of intelligence. This is a skill you should definitely acquire. Practice highlighting the main points in a text not only in school lessons or at work, but also when reading newspapers, magazines and books.

 

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