The main idea of the text. How to determine the main idea of the text. Lesson topic: “Isolation of the main idea in the text How to determine the main idea

Text are two or more sentences related in meaning.

Theme of the text is who or what the text is talking about. The sentences in the text are united by one theme.

“Goslings grow very fast. They don't need to be trained to eat porridge. You don't have to learn to swim. They are independent."

E. Shim

Let's check: what is the text talking about? - about goslings. All sentences are connected by one topic.

According to N. Sadkov

This text tells about streams: the first sentence says what streams are, the second - where they rush, the third - how to unravel the mystery of the stream.

We can see that all the sentences correspond to the theme "brooks".

“It was a hot day. In the garden, under a bench, the dog Beetle was sleeping. Lenya took a stick and began to tease the dog. The bug growled and rushed at the boy. Lenya ran, but the bug managed to bite him. Lenya cried.

A28

To solve this task, you need to understand the meaning of the text.

Parsing the task.

(1) Poly's inflamed state, and most importantly, her confused,
ambiguous speech - everything suggested the worst guesses, much more terrible than even the captivity of Rodion or his mortal wound.
(2) - No, it’s completely different here, - Fields shuddered and,
turning to the wall, she took out from under the pillow a crumpled, read
triangle.
(3) Subsequently, Varya was ashamed of her initial assumptions.
(4) Although rare transit trains did not stop in Moscow, the stations were nearby, and Rodion knew Pauline's address.
(5) Of course, the command might not have allowed the soldier to leave the echelon for the Annunciation dead end, then why didn’t he at least drop postcards of his own, beloved, on his way to the active army? ..
(6) So, this was his first front-line news with more than
two weeks late. (7) In any case, it will now become clear with what thoughts he went to war. (8) Varya impatiently unfolded the sheet, all pierced with a pencil - apparently, it was written on her knee. (9) I had to go up to the lamp to make out the dim, half-finished lines.
(10) Varya immediately stumbled upon the main place.
(11) “Perhaps the only reason, my dear, why everything was silent
this time - there was nowhere to settle down - Rodion wrote briefly, with unexpected fullness and straightforwardly, as in a confession. (12) - We are still retreating for now, retreating day and night, occupying more advantageous defensive lines, as they say in the reports. (13) I was very sick, besides, and now I have not yet fully recovered: my illness is worse than any concussion. (14) The most bitter thing is that I myself am quite healthy, all whole, so far there is not a single scratch on me.
(15) Burn this letter, I can only tell you about it in the whole world, - Varya turned the page.
(16) The incident happened in one Russian village, which our
part was in retreat. (17) I was the last in the company ... and maybe the last in the whole army. (18) A local girl of nine years old stood in front of us on the road, just a child, apparently, at school, accustomed to love the Red Army ... (19) Of course, she did not really understand the strategic situation. (20) She ran up to us with wild flowers, and, as it happened, I got them. (21) She had such inquisitive, questioning eyes -
it is a thousand times easier to look at the midday sun, but I forced myself to take a bouquet, because I am not a coward, by my mother I swear to you, Polenka, that I am not a coward. (22) He closed his eyes, and accepted him from her, who was left at the mercy of the enemy ...
(23) Since then, I keep that withered broom constantly with me, on my body, like a fire in my bosom, I order it to be put on my grave, if something happens. (24) I thought I would bleed seven times before I become a man, but this is how it happens, dry ... and this is a font of maturity!
- (25) Then two lines came across completely illegible.
- (26) And I don’t know, Polenka, will my whole life be enough to pay for that gift ... "
(27) - Yes, he has grown very much, your Rodion, you are right ... - folding the letter, Varya said, because with such a line of thought, this soldier would hardly have been capable of any reprehensible act.
(28) Embracing, the girlfriends listened to the rustle of rain and rare,
fading car horns. (29) The topic of the conversation was events
of the past day: an exhibition of captured aircraft that opened on the central square, an unfilled funnel on Veselykh Street, as they are already accustomed to calling it among themselves, Gastello, whose selfless feat thundered throughout the country in those days.

What does the hero’s statement say: “I thought I would bleed seven times before I become a man, but this is how it happens, dry ... and this is a font of maturity!”?

1) The retreat of our troops takes place without fighting, without bloodshed.
2) The author of the letter is incapable of committing any reprehensible
deed.
3) To become a real man, you do not always have to prove
physical strength, sometimes a test of fortitude is more important.
4) The author of the letter is not a coward and is not afraid of the upcoming battles.

The statement of the hero speaks of the spiritual rebirth of the author. Fights have nothing to do with it, so the first option is wrong. There is no hero's regret in the text, so the second answer option is not suitable. The author of the letter is indeed not a coward, but these words do not reflect the essence of the statement. So the correct answer is #3.
Practice.

1. Read the text.

Food gives a person the strength necessary for life. The energy contained in food, as a result of a very complex process - this process we call digestion - is converted into chemical energy. The nutrients obtained from food as a result of the digestion process are carried by the blood to all parts of the body, and when there are enough nutrients in the blood, we feel full.

1) The forces necessary for life, a person receives as a result of digestion: the energy from food is converted into chemical energy, and the blood carries nutrients throughout the body, saturating it.

2) The energy contained in food, as a result of a very complex process - this process we call digestion - is converted into chemical energy.

3) Nutrients obtained from food as a result of the process of digestion are carried by the blood throughout our body.

4) Digestion is the process of converting energy from food into chemical energy.

2. Read the text.

Today, the preservation of the natural environment has become one of the most important tasks of society. Undisturbed landscapes become of great value, and they are talked about as the greatest asset, as the natural heritage of mankind. It is important to remember that entering into inheritance rights implies not only the possession of this property, but also concern for its preservation.

Which of the following sentences correctly conveys the main information contained in the text?

1) A person forgets that entering into inheritance rights involves not only the possession of some kind of property.

2) Nowadays, undisturbed landscapes are spoken of as a legacy passed down from generation to generation.

3) Preservation of landscapes - the natural heritage of mankind - is one of the most important tasks of modern society.

4) Entry into inheritance rights implies not only the possession of a certain property: the inheritance received must be preserved and increased.

3. Read the text.

In the Arctic and Antarctic - the polar regions of our planet, as well as high in the mountains, the surface of the Earth is constantly covered with ice and snow. Here, perennial accumulations of ice are common - glaciers that form in those places where the snow accumulated over a long winter does not have time to melt in summer. Glacial ice contains few impurities, and when melted, it produces the purest water, which is now increasingly used for medicinal purposes.

Which of the following sentences correctly conveys the main information contained in the text?

1) Glaciers form in those places where the snow accumulated over a long winter does not have time to melt in summer - in the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as high in the mountains.

2) In the Arctic, Antarctic and high in the mountains there are glaciers - perennial accumulations of ice containing few impurities, the melting of which produces the purest water used for medicinal purposes.

3) High in the mountains, the surface of the Earth is constantly covered with ice and snow, which contains few impurities and is used for various purposes.

4) clean water can only be obtained from ice, which is formed in those places where the snow accumulated over a long winter does not have time to melt in summer, that is, in polar latitudes.

Hello, dear editors of the "Russian language"!
Your regular reader is writing to you - Mikhailova Valentina Mikhailovna. I live in the countryside. Your application is a great help in my work. Unfortunately, the rural teacher is deprived of many things: the rural libraries are poor, the city is far away, and expensive. And the only way out is to subscribe.
I work at a national school where Russian is a non-native language of instruction. It is with regret that we have to state the following fact: every year fewer and fewer hours are allotted for the study of the Russian language in non-Russian schools. In elementary grades, for example, students can study Russian for 7 hours a week. And that's all. Other subjects are taught in the native language. Further from class to class, the number of hours allotted for the study of the Russian language decreases.
And now, after graduation, a student who studied according to the program of national schools, along with lyceum students, gymnasium students, and Russian-speaking schoolchildren, must pass the exam in the Russian language. Is it fair?
A large number of textbooks have been developed for Russian schools. And what do scientists offer to the national school? One and only approved textbook for each class, the quality of which leaves much to be desired. Where is the exit? The way out is simple: use what has been worked out for Russian schools.
I really like the books of the group of authors G.G. Granik, L.A. End, S.M. Bondarenko. So the book of this group of authors “When a book teaches”, written in a lively, figurative language, has become a support for me in teaching schoolchildren the skills of independent work with an educational book. These books I call books for the mind and heart.
I bring to your attention a lesson conducted on this book in the 7th grade at the end of the first quarter. One of several. I would like to highlight the fact that not episodic, but purposeful work was carried out. At the end of the lesson plan, I give 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 love this kind of work. First, they learn to acquire knowledge on their own; Secondly, they enrich their vocabulary.
I hope that teachers working in rural schools will include work with the book in their practice. I'm not sure what our teachers have in their personal libraries this book. So, they will have a reason to "get" it. Unfortunately, I must admit that the new study guides, produced by this group of authors, I was not able to purchase.
Sincerely,
Valentina Mikhailovna Mikhailova

V.M. MIKHAILOV,
Chuvash Republic

Theme of the lesson: "Isolation of the main idea in the text"

7th grade

Target: developing the skills of highlighting the main idea in the text.

DURING THE CLASSES

I. Repetition.

(It's amazing how quickly we forget. The only way keeping 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 all your life. What is this skill made up of? To learn a text means, first of all, to understand and remember it. It is clear what it means to remember a text: if you retold it without loss, then you remember it. What does it mean to understand the content of a text?

After reading the given material, understanding it and remembering it well, you find yourself at the blackboard. As long as you retell what you have learned, everything is going great. But the teacher starts asking questions. And something unexpected happens to you: you cannot answer some questions related to this seemingly learned material. Why? And there is a doubt: did you understand the text? So no!

How should one work with the text in order to understand it deeper and easier to remember? In the past lessons, we have 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. Work on the text after reading.)

- What does the work before reading start include? (Working with the title. The title is " Entrance door» text. Mental processing of the title is the first step towards understanding the author's idea. After reading the headline, the “ideal reader” asks himself: “What is this about? What am I going to find out?"

Epigraph work. An epigraph is an authorized representative of the main idea. Along with the title, the correct reading of the epigraph is a “starting” moment on the way to the main idea: after all, the epigraph most often expresses the thought of the text in a generalized, allegorical way.)

– Let us turn to the work of the reader at the 2nd stage, i.e. in the course of reading. For a lesson on this topic, we picked up an epigraph:

My consolation is a mental flight
Book by page, page by 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 the text?

(If the reader is not indifferent to the content of the text, then in the course of reading he has questions: 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 over, the "ideal reader" begins work related to the entire text as a whole. What does he first highlight in the text?

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

Let's imagine that you have learned to converse with the text. Is this enough to fully understand the material? Unfortunately, the ability to conduct a dialogue with the 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 that are equivalent or organized hierarchically. Even the smallest text can contain more than one significant thought. Here is an example of an anonymous Spanish epigram from the 18th century:

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

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

In extended texts, there can be many thoughts with different levels of generalization - from generalization in the context of a given work to generalization at the level of universal spiritual values.

The famous teacher of the past V.I. Vodovozov once read to his little students Krylov's fable "The Dragonfly and the Ant" and wanted the children to come to the conclusion about the value of hard work, and condemn frivolity. But the disciples were touched 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 did she do wrong? She sang all summer and jumped. So it was fun! In the summer, under each of her leaves, both the table and the house were ready.

On the difference in the understanding of the same works by people different ages one of the sages of the East said well: “Reading a book in 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 backyard. Reading books in old age is like looking at the moon from a high open terrace. Because the depth of penetration into what is read corresponds to the accumulated life experience. ( Ch. Zhang. Shadows of peaceful dreams // Flipping through the eternal pages. M., 1983. S. 132.)

Does this mean that the main meaning of the work is something devoid of objective meaning and depends on the subjective approach of readers? Far from it. 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 learn to distinguish main idea, it is necessary to develop "mental mechanics", responsible for highlighting the main idea.

III. Training tasks.

Section I . Here are texts in which the main idea is expressed in words, and it must be found.

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 cruel,” he said.
“It can be desperate,” he said.
“The sea is different,” he said.
“Clean and dirty,” he said.
- Mysterious and revealed,
Powerful, grouchy, angry...
The sea is like a person!

(Rasul Rza)

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

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

The sun has set
for the wood
became a forest
and dark
and high.
Someone is hiding
behind the pine
something rustled
behind the back,
lit up in the trees
lights...
Ouch! -
Eyes of fear
are great.

(V. Levanovsky)

(The eyes of fear are big.)

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

Exercise 1. Explain the main idea of these poems.

An apple fell from a cart
and, as usual, gone
because it didn't fit
not in the jam
not in compote.
It's good that it didn't hit
great what's missing
it's wonderful that it fell
you see - the apple tree is growing!

(V. Levanovsky)

(In this poem, we are talking about the fact that one should not be upset because of small losses, but one should rejoice if one's loss turns into something good for other people..)

I have heard:
hedgehog
Called - called home,
She whispered calmly and quietly:
- My smooth,
My soft...
rocked
Beetle bug,
rocked
Under the cherry tree in the shade
And she sang long and thin:
- My little white boy,
Sleep...
Bunny hare
woke up:
- Well, what are you, my lion cub,
Are you sleeping?
Let's go hunting, my dear,
My strong
My brave baby...
And we are with you
We dance merrily
We collect flowers in the moat.
And I love you
Our sun
And our joy
I call.

(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 RECIPES

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

IV. Work with text.

Many writers and scholars build texts in such a way that “the words are cramped, the thoughts are spacious” (N. Nekrasov). More content can be drawn from such texts than is contained in words at first glance.

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

Two and a half thousand years ago, King Cyrus lived. 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 over his people. He did not conquer anything, did not destroy anyone, and the 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 ended up in the possessions of King Panso. Cyrus wanted to know by what laws the people live in this kingdom. At this time, two inhabitants came to King Panso with a request to judge them. "King Panso! - said one of the visitors. - I bought a wasteland from this man, began to dig the earth there and found a treasure. “Take for yourself,” I tell him, “this treasure: I bought a wasteland from you, not gold.” Another answered: “I, like you, am afraid of the sin of appropriating someone else's. I sold you the wasteland along with everything that is in it, from the bowels 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. "There is". “Marry them, and give them the treasure as a dowry.” Seeing the astonishment of King Cyrus, King Panso asked him: “Have I not judged these people well? And how would such a dispute be resolved in your country?” “I,” Cyrus replied, “would cut off the heads of both complainers, and take the treasure to the royal treasury.” “Does the sun shine in your country?” asked Panso. "Shines," Cyrus replied. "And is it raining?" - "They're coming." "Do you have livestock?" - "There is". “Your people are worthy of a curse,” Panso said quietly, fearlessly looking into the eyes of the formidable king. (A.Sharov).

What do you not understand about this text? (I repeat this question 3 times. Unfortunately, a new, unfamiliar word slips past the consciousness of the students, does not cause a desire to find out what it is. The student must understand every word, every phrase, every phraseological phrase 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, a combination of the sin of appropriating someone else's ...)

- And now tell as much as possible about each of the rulers and about the life of their peoples, without adding anything, but without losing sight of anything either.

A variant of the answer from the essay of a schoolchild, 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., add. M .: Pedagogy, 1991. P. 95.)

The great and formidable king Cyrus destroyed thousands of inhabitants in the lands that 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' great victories did not make life easier for the common people in the least.
In the possessions of King Panso, the people were kind and honest and did not lose sons in the wars of conquest. The people went to their king openly and trustingly, and he settled their disputes justly and kindly. It was a small, poor, but happy people.

Here are some 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, not sparing civilians either. Cyrus was cruel, greedy. Victory flattered his vanity. And the people he ruled are worthy of their king. As King Panso said: “Your people are worthy of a curse ...” ( Yakovleva T.)

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

“Cyrus was very cruel, destroyed thousands of enemy soldiers, inhabitants in 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 complainers. His people lived in fear. Cyrus could only kill.
King Panso was fair, kind, so people went to him with a request to judge them in this or that dispute. His people rejoiced in the sun, rain ... They were afraid of the sin of appropriating someone else's, i.e. lived according to divine laws. Any war begins with the desire to appropriate someone else's, and therefore King Panso did not start wars ... "( Maksimova E.)

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

“I think that the people of this little island in the middle of the Mediterranean are happy because it is ruled by King Panso. King Panso does not go to war with his neighbors. People live in the world. The people do not lose their sons in wars. He rejoices in the sun, rain. People in this kingdom are honest, afraid of the sin of appropriating someone else's ... "( Vasiliev O.)

V. Homework.

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

One traveler passed by a large construction site with many workers. He stopped one worker who was pulling a heavy wheelbarrow with stones and asked him, "What are you doing?" "Do not you see? he answered. “Pushing a heavy wheelbarrow, damn it!” The traveler then asked the same question to a second worker who was pulling the same wheelbarrow. “I earn bread for the family,” the second worker replied with dignity. The third worker with the same wheelbarrow proudly answered the same question of the traveler: "I am building a beautiful temple!"

In tests in Russian, there are often tasks like "Read the text. Determine its topic." It would seem that there is nowhere easier, but for some reason, it is precisely on such elementary questions that many graduates “stumble” when passing the exam and even university students.

Definition

In order to understand how to determine the topic of the text, you first need to find out what it is. Definitions from textbooks are usually formulated too abstrusely, but everything is extremely simple.

Let's try to get better. Think about how you can briefly formulate the themes of famous works? Here are some examples:

L. N. Tolstoy, "Anna Karenina"- the love story of a married noblewoman and a young officer Vronsky.
G. Troepolsky, "White Bim Black Ear"- life through the eyes of a dog that has lost a loving owner.
M. A. Bulgakov, "Heart of a Dog"– experience in transplanting a human pituitary gland into a dog and its consequences.
A. Green, "Scarlet Sails"- the life of the girl Assol, who lives in anticipation of the prince, who, according to the prediction, should sail to her on a ship with scarlet sails.
A. Dumas, "The Three Musketeers"- Adventures three musketeers and d'Artagnan, who arrived in Paris to join the ranks of the elite royal guard.

As you can see, if you at least roughly know what the book or article is about, there will be no problems with how to determine the topic of the text. In addition, often the answer is right in the title (for example, "War and Peace", "Three Comrades", "Romeo and Juliet", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer").

Theme, idea, problem: what's the difference?

And now we have come to the most difficult moment. How to determine the topic of the text, even a child intuitively understands, then where does the confusion come from? The fact is that in the literature there are also the concepts of "main idea" and "problem of the text", which are very similar in meaning. In addition, in everyday life we often use them as synonyms.

How to stop confusing these concepts? Let's forget the long and confusing wording from the textbooks and try to understand the meaning of these terms.

It's actually pretty easy to remember what the difference is between the topic, the main idea, and the problem of the text. For convenience, we have arranged the main points in the form of a table.

	Topic	Idea (main idea)	Problem
essence	What is described in the text (events, people, phenomena, etc.)	The goals and personal opinion of the author are what he is trying to lead the reader to	The global question that the author discusses
What questions does it answer	What is the story about?	What do I feel at this moment?	What big issues does the text make you think about?
	Who is the main character?	What should a good person do in this case?	Why are the characters in this situation?
	Where and when do the events take place?	What conclusions should be drawn from this situation?	What should modern society pay attention to?
Peculiarities	"Report" about the events of the work, description of the place, characters, their thoughts and feelings	Personal opinion of the writer, his attitude to characters and events	There are at least two sides to the coin, and every opinion deserves its right to exist.
	Does not contain subjective assessments	May contain ratings good/bad, right/wrong	Not tied to the plot and characters, affects global conflicts - religious, political, social
	Lists the facts - who did what and why	Demonstrates the position of the author regarding the problem of the text - what is the reason, how it affects society, etc.	Expressed as a question
Examples	Walk around St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg is a city where the pages of old novels come to life, and each street has its own story.	Why is it necessary to learn to notice the beauty around you?
	Rescue of a homeless puppy	Taking care of the smaller brothers, a person shows his best qualities- empathy, kindness and responsibility	Who is to blame for the fact that there are so many homeless animals on the streets?
	The importance of proper nutrition	For human health, it is important that the diet contains products of all groups - meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, dairy products and cereals.	Is it possible in modern world lead healthy lifestyle life?

"Eternal" themes

People always write about what is happening around them, so each historical period has its own characteristic themes. So, now few people will undertake to describe the events of the October Revolution or the hardships of the life of serfs.

However, speaking about how to determine the main topic of the text, it should be noted that there are so-called "eternal" topics - those in which readers will recognize their experiences and problems at all times:

love, the birth of tender feelings and the bitterness of parting;
fathers and children (the clash of values and views of different generations);
confrontation between good and evil;
friendship and betrayal;
growing up and becoming a person - how life circumstances change the character and views.

These themes can be traced in one way or another in almost all literary texts. Therefore, when doing your analysis, think about what human values and issues the author touches on.

How to determine the topic of the text in 5 minutes

1. Reread the title. It may contain clues that will help you understand what the text will be about. This is especially true for short stories and articles in which the author immediately gets to the point. At the same time, remember that headings can be associative, metaphorical or paradoxical.

2. Study the text. Mentally select for yourself the main semantic blocks and determine how they are interconnected (in time, logically, etc.). For convenience, you can sketch a small plan.

3. Write out key sentences. In each paragraph, highlight the phrase that contains the most useful information necessary for understanding the material.

4. Cut back. Now your task is to “throw out” everything superfluous from these sentences. Artistic techniques, additional details, complex turns, actions. As a result, only the main keywords and phrases should remain.

5. Distribute phrases by importance. To determine the main topic of the text, you need to write them in a column in descending order of importance. That is, first of all, we write those words and phrases, without which it is impossible to understand what the text says.

6. Formulate a topic. We take the keywords that we collected at the previous stage as a basis. Unlike the idea, the topic should be extremely concise. Don't stretch it out into a full sentence - ideally try to keep it under 5-6 words (for example, "How to learn to forgive" or "The healing power of classical music").

When studying a text, be it a fiction novel, a scientific dissertation, a pamphlet, a poem, an anecdote, the first thing the reader asks, sorting through words and sentences - what is written here, what did the author want to express with a set of these particular words? When the writer managed to fully reveal his idea, it is not difficult to understand it, the main idea of the text is already clear in the process of reading, and the leitmotif runs through the whole story. But when the idea itself is ephemeral, and even expressed not literally, but in metaphors, figurative description, 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, the level of his position in society. And it is very likely that what is learned and understood by the reader will be far from such a concept as the main idea of the text, which the author himself tried to put into the work.

The Importance of Identifying 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 layman to understand the enthusiasm of his friends or the positive reviews of respected experts on this work. Bewilderment about the fact that someone found something special in it, and someone did not, can at best puzzle, at worst - form a certain The latter concerns particularly impressionable readers, and there are many of them. The works that caused polar reviews are worth paying attention to. Special attention and understand what these impressions are caused by.

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 when the text was written and the time where the author transferred the events described in it.

Typical examples of the definition of the main in the text

A rather characteristic example of this method of cognition is the immortal and brilliant work of Mikhail Bulgakov "Heart of a Dog". In each sentence, in a single passage, there is an allegorical attitude of the writer to the events taking place in the country after the 1917 revolution. Here the theme and the main idea of the text are veiled under the implausible transformation of one living individual into another under the influence of interference. external factors. Bulgakov's attitude to global transformations in the state and the minds of its citizens is expressed as precisely and frankly as possible. He conveyed his position to the reader through the stylistic presentation of the text, highlighting 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. 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 presentation of these events by the author.

Alignment with the author

In addition to the above example of determining the main idea in a work, there are several ways of a general nature, without reference to a specific author and his work. The most common is a careful reading of the text and the selection of several main associations that have arisen in the process of reading. If from the first time it was possible to understand the author and what he writes about, it is not worth rushing to assert that the main idea of the text has been found. It is better to convey your understanding of the topic in one or two sentences, and then reread the work again. If the conviction that everything was understood correctly the first time is confirmed, then the main idea of the text is stated intelligibly and with an ideal presentation. But if with each subsequent reading more and more new associations arise, one should try to penetrate more deeply into what has been stated and, along the way, get acquainted with the reviews of this work of the author. It is likely that, apart from himself, no one else understood anything. And in this case, it is impossible to choose a method of how to find 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 such difficulties can arise when getting acquainted 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 close to each other. the main theme of these works.

If the topic is set by the author himself

So let's get back to general rule definition of the main idea of the text. After rereading the work two or three times, if the 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 the layering of overly lush and flowery phrases, it all depends on the style of presentation of the topic by the author. But if it was possible to formulate the main thing in one short and concise phrase, then the author managed to convey to the reader his attitude to the events or characters described.

From title to text

Sometimes the main idea of the work lies in its table of contents. This happens quite often. Sometimes the title is the key to the whole work, and in this case, the method of how to determine the main idea of the text is to express it expanded. For example, the theme of the novel by Nikolai Chernyshevsky “What is to be done?” is determined by a direct answer to the question posed in its table of contents or in the characteristic chapters describing the dreams of Vera Pavlovna. The title of the novel at the end of the phrase is the key to finding the main idea. If there are proper names in the title of the text, the attitude towards them that has developed after reading is also the key to determining the main thing in the foregoing.

Read and think

And finally, one more characteristic way of how to determine the main idea of the text. To do this, it is necessary to understand what conclusions the author himself makes from what the narration was about. This can be framed as a kind of conclusion to which the author led the reader, and at the end of the work he drew a line under his idea with a few phrases. The example of morality in fables shows that in such cases the main idea is determined by the author himself, and the reader is left to either agree with it or not.

A28

V.M. MIKHAILOV, Chuvash Republic