Implied Main Ideas

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Implied Main Ideas

• Chapter 3
• Ten Steps to Advanced Reading

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What is an Implied Main Idea?

• An implied main idea is a main idea that is not
  stated directly but is strongly suggested by the
  supporting details in the passage.
• Even though a paragraph might not have the main
  idea stated in a single sentence, the paragraph
  still has a main idea.
• When the main idea is not stated, you must figure
  out the authors controlling point about the
  topic.

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You will need to formulate the implied main idea
when you read literature. Short stories, novels,
poems, and plays rely heavily on vivid details to
suggest the authors point.

• The Appointment in Samarra
• Death speaks There was a merchant in Baghdad
  who sent his servant to market to buy provisions
  and in a little while the servant came back,
  white and trembling, and said, Master, just now
  when I was in the marketplace, I was jostled by a
  woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was
  Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made
  a threatening gesture now, lend me your horse,
  and I will ride away from this city and avoid my
  fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will
  not find me. The merchant lent him his horse,
  and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs
  in its flanks and as fast as the horse could
  gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to
  the marketplace and he saw me standing in the
  crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you
  make a threatening gesture to my servant when you
  saw him this morning? That was not a threatening
  gesture I said, it was only a start of surprise.
  I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had
  an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

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Did you notice that every sentence in the
previous paragraph is a supporting detail? No
single sentence covers all the other ideas. To
figure out the implied main idea, ask the
following questions

• Questions for Finding the Implied Main Idea
• What is the topic, or subject, of the paragraph?
• What are the major supporting details?
• Based on the details about the topic, what point
  or main idea is the author trying to get across?

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Suggestive Answers

• What is the topic of the story?
• The appointment in Samarra, which is an
  appointment with Death.
• What are the major supporting details?
• The servant of a merchant went to a market in
  Baghdad.
• The servant was jostled by Death.
• The servant saw Death make a threatening
  gesture at him and became afraid.
  
• The servant tried to avoid Death by fleeing on
  his masters horse to Samarra.
• The merchant went to the Bagdad market and
  asked Death why she made a threatening
  gesture at his servant.
• Death replied that she was only surprised to
  see the servant, for she had an
  appointment with him that night in Samarra.
  
• What is the main idea the author is trying to get
  across?
• We each have an appointed time of death that
  cannot be avoided, and our decisions lead us to
  our appointed time of death.

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Finding the Implied Main Idea

• Pay attention to repeated words to help you point
  out the topic of a passage.
• Identify the supporting details by looking for
  addition/transition words within sentences.
• After reading a paragraph, summarize by using the
  topic and supporting details to make an
  inference.

The implied central idea is the main idea
suggested by the details of a passage made up of
two or more paragraphs.