Which strategy best helps determine the main idea of a paragraph?

• A. Focus on the last sentence only.
• B. Count words to find the most frequent term.
• C. Look for the paragraph’s color formatting.
• D. Read the topic sentence and gather the key details that support it.

Answer: (D)

Identifying the main idea means pinpointing the one central point the paragraph is making and what it’s about. The best way to uncover that is to read the topic sentence and then gather the key details that support it. The topic sentence often states the main idea directly, and the sentences that follow provide evidence, examples, or explanations that develop that idea. By focusing on what the opening sentence is saying and then checking which details reinforce that point, you can see the paragraph’s overall message.

If the paragraph doesn’t have a clear topic sentence, you can still figure out the main idea by noticing what all the details are about and how they connect to a single point.

Why the other options don’t fit as well: focusing only on the last sentence can miss the bigger point, since the ending might summarize or wrap up rather than state the central claim. Counting words to find the most frequent term isn’t reliable because important ideas aren’t always the terms that appear most often. and formatting like color is not informative about content and doesn’t reveal the paragraph’s meaning.