Paragraph Summary, Odd Sentence & Completion
✨ Login to trackParagraph summary (main-idea questions)
✨ Login to trackA summary question gives you a short paragraph and four candidate summaries. The right answer states the main idea in the same scope as the paragraph — nothing more, nothing less. Three things break a summary: it is too narrow (only one detail), too broad (claims more than the paragraph covers), or distorted (adds a judgement the author never made).
What a summary must do
A good summary is a compressed copy of the paragraph's main idea. It keeps the author's scope (how much the claim covers) and tone (how strongly it is claimed). It does not add reasons, examples, or advice the paragraph never gave.
When you compare two options that both look true, do not ask which is true? — ask which one covers the whole paragraph and only the paragraph? A true sentence can still be a wrong summary if it covers only part of the idea.
The three standard wrong options
- Too narrow — summarizes one supporting detail. Signal: names one example, one city, one number from the middle of the paragraph.
- Too broad — stretches the claim to a bigger topic. Signal: bigger words like society, the economy, always, the future of….
- Distorted — keeps the topic but changes the claim: swaps a possibility for a certainty, a description for a recommendation, or a small cause for the main cause.
A 3-step method
- Read the paragraph and say the main idea in your own 5–7 words before looking at the options.
- Reject every option that adds, removes, or strengthens a claim.
- Between the survivors, choose the one whose scope matches: if the paragraph discussed one city, the summary must not claim a national trend; if it gave two sides, the summary must not pick a side.
Scope check with an example
Paragraph: In Bengaluru, carpooling apps cut rush-hour trip times by a fifth last winter. The civic body now wants dedicated carpool lanes.
- "Carpooling reduced congestion in one Indian city" — right scope (one city, one effect).
- "Carpooling is the answer to urban pollution" — too broad (pollution never came up).
- "Carpool lanes will cut travel times by 20%" — distortion (the lanes are a plan, the 20% was measured for the apps).
- "Bengaluru has the worst traffic in India" — new claim, not in the paragraph.
Worked micro-example
Paragraph: The state's new fire-safety audit found 60% of city malls with blocked rear exits; three chains fixed them within a week, the rest sought time.
- Own-words main idea: audits exposed blocked exits; some acted fast, most stalled.
- Option "Fire safety in malls needs attention" — too vague, loses both halves.
- Option "Three chains are the most responsible mall owners" — distorts (they are a minority that complied).
- Option "Most malls delayed fixing blocked exits found by the new audit" — right scope and both halves. ✓
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Best summary of the paragraph
"Which of the following best expresses the main idea / central thought?"
State the main idea in 5–7 of your own words.
Reject options that add or strengthen claims.
Between survivors, match the scope.
The correct summary must compress the whole paragraph, and only the paragraph.
Urban farms cut food miles and give city groups a shared hobby. But most fail within three years because land rent eats the profits. Which option best captures the paragraph?
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Correct: "Urban farms offer real benefits but rarely survive financially." Narrow options quote only the hobby or only the rent; a broad one would claim farming's future is urban.
Author's argument in one line
The paragraph argues a position (should/must/because), and the options are one-line versions of positions.
Find what the author wants changed or defended.
Keep the author's strength of claim.
Reject stronger or weaker versions.
Argument paragraphs hinge on the author's stance, not on the facts quoted.
"Public libraries must open earlier, because job-seekers need computers before office hours." Author's stance?
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Correct keeps must + the reason (early hours for job-seekers). An option saying libraries "could consider" weakens the claim; one demanding free Wi-Fi adds a new demand.
Which option is NOT supported
"Which of the following is not supported by / cannot be inferred from the passage?"
Test each option against the text, sentence by sentence.
Three will have direct textual anchors.
The unsupported one usually stretches scope or adds a cause.
Three options are paraphrases of the text; only one silently adds new information.
Paragraph: rooftop solar grew fastest in Gujarat last year. Option: "Gujarat leads India in rooftop solar adoption."
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"Grew fastest" supports "leads in growth", not necessarily "leads in total adoption" — that subtle swap is the unsupported option.
Best title
"Choose the most appropriate title for the passage."
Capture the topic + the angle in 6–10 words.
Reject titles that are only about one example.
Reject titles that promise a bigger story than the text delivers.
A title is a summary in noun form — the same scope rules apply.
Paragraph on how Delhi's bus depots switched to electric and drivers retrained.
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"Delhi's electric bus shift — and its drivers" beats "The future of transport" (too broad) and "One depot's story" (too narrow).
Shortcuts that save time
Most exam paragraphs put the main idea in the first or last sentence. Mark it before reading the options — the correct summary will be a tighter version of that sentence.
"Battery prices have fallen 90% in a decade, so electric two-wheelers now cost less than petrol scooters to run. Sales followed." — the topic sentence is the first one: falling prices drove sales.
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A summary built on the first sentence (prices fell, sales rose) is correct. Any summary only about "battery chemistry" or "the environment" is off-scope.
Read the option and ask: does the paragraph support every claim in this sentence? One unsupported word ("always", "only", "the government must") disqualifies it.
Option: "Remote work will replace offices everywhere." Paragraph says some firms cut space.
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"Everywhere" and "will replace" go beyond the paragraph — a distortion. Reject.
Options with strongest words — always, never, only, must, prove — are usually wrong summaries. Real authors hedge; good summaries hedge too.
Two options look close; one says "can reduce" and the other "will eliminate".
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Choose the hedged one ("can reduce") unless the paragraph itself claims total elimination.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Picking the summary of one example or statistic from the middle of the paragraph — that is a detail, not the main idea.
Choosing an option because it uses the same words as the paragraph; wrong options often copy words but swap the claim.
Letting your own opinion fill the gap — the summary must contain only what the author said.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Summary = main idea + same scope + same tone.
Wrong options are narrow, broad, or distorted.
Do the every-word test on the last two options.
Absolutes (always/only) are usually traps.
Practice: 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 11 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.