2.1 Main Ideas, Explicit Facts & Supported Inference

Main ideas, explicit facts and supported inference

Three different reading tasks

Communication questions often look alike while asking for different evidence. Before reading the options, classify the stem.

• Fact retrieval asks what the passage directly states. The answer is usually an accurate paraphrase of one sentence or a combination of clearly stated details.
• Main idea or purpose asks why the passage exists. The answer must cover the passage as a whole without becoming so broad that it could describe many unrelated texts.
• Inference asks what follows from the text even though the exact wording is absent. A valid inference needs a necessary or strongly supported connection, not a reasonable guess based on experience.

Suppose a notice says: “The training room will close at 16:00 on Tuesday for electrical inspection. Bookings scheduled after 15:30 will be moved to Thursday unless the organiser cancels them.” A fact question can ask when the room closes. A main-idea question concerns a temporary closure and rescheduling rule. A supported inference is that a 15:45 Tuesday booking will not proceed in that room on Tuesday. It is not valid to infer that the building has unsafe wiring; the text gives an inspection purpose, not a finding.

Build a passage map

For a short passage, reduce each paragraph to a few words in the margin or mentally:

1. topic or problem;
2. rule, evidence, or change;
3. consequence or recommendation.

This prevents one vivid detail from replacing the central message. If three paragraphs explain a new equipment-booking process and one sentence mentions a delayed delivery, “delivery delays” is too narrow for the main idea.

Scope words control meaning

Small qualifiers create large logical differences:

Mark negative stems such as NOT, EXCEPT, and least supported. Rewrite them positively: “Find three supported choices; the remaining choice is the answer.” This reduces the chance of selecting the first true statement when the task asks for the false one.

Evidence ladder for inference

Rank possible answers by evidence:

1. Directly stated: essentially repeats the passage.
2. Necessary consequence: must be true if the passage is true.
3. Strongly supported: most consistent with all details, though not word-for-word.
4. Plausible: could be true but requires an unstated assumption.
5. Contradicted: conflicts with the text.

When the stem asks “must be true,” accept only levels 1 or 2. When it asks “most likely” or “best supported,” level 3 may be appropriate. Test writers often place a realistic level-4 statement beside a less dramatic but text-supported answer.

Compare options precisely

For each option, ask:

• Does it keep the same people, time period, quantity, and condition?
• Has “may” become “will,” or “often” become “always”?
• Does it reverse cause and effect?
• Does it add a motive, diagnosis, or policy that the passage never provides?
• Does it answer a related question instead of the one asked?

Use line evidence. Point to the words that support the answer and the words that eliminate a distractor. If you cannot do either, you may be choosing by familiarity.

Worked example

Read this memo: “Vehicle checks are recorded electronically at the start of each rostered shift. If the tablet is unavailable, crews record the check on the paper continuity sheet and enter it electronically once service returns. The paper sheet is retained for seven days after electronic entry.”

The main idea is the recording process, including the offline fallback. It follows that tablet failure does not remove the duty to record a check. It does not follow that paper recording is less accurate, that the outage will last seven days, or that every paper record must be entered immediately while the system is unavailable.

For “Which event must happen before the paper sheet can be discarded?”, combine the conditions: service returns, the data is entered electronically, and seven days pass after that entry. Notice how the time period begins after electronic entry, not after the original check.

Practice method

After each passage, write one sentence for the topic, one for the central claim, and one fact you could prove by quotation. Then write one tempting but unsupported inference. This trains both selection and rejection. Use unfamiliar administrative, community, maintenance, scheduling, and safety-themed texts; the skill is evidence control, not prior firefighting knowledge.