The four kinds of question
- Main idea asks what the whole passage is mostly about.
- Inference asks what the passage shows without saying it.
- Detail asks for a fact the passage states.
- Word meaning asks what a word means in this passage.
A detail sits in one sentence, and a main idea covers them all. A word meaning sits in one sentence too, but its clue can be in the sentence next to it. An inference is not written down, but a line of the passage should back it up.
Where the format appears
The SAT uses this format in its Reading and Writing section. The College Board describes it as short reading passages (or passage pairs) followed by a single multiple-choice question, with passages of 25 to 150 words. Its test specifications list Central Ideas and Details, Command of Evidence and Inferences under Information and Ideas, and Words in Context under Craft and Structure.
The Nation's Report Card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, sorts reading questions by the thinking they ask for. In locate and recall questions, readers identify explicitly stated information: a detail question here. Integrate and interpret questions ask for inferences, and the framework counts inferring the main idea of an article among them.
How to find the line that answers each kind
- Detail. Take a key word from the question and scan for it, or for words that mean the same. Read the whole sentence you land on.
- Main idea. Name the topic, then find the sentence that says what the passage claims about it. Try the first and the last sentence first. In a story, look at what changes between the beginning and the end, as the lesson Follow the whole story shows.
- Inference. Find the line the answer rests on: an action, a quote or a stated fact. The right choice follows from it and adds nothing more.
- Word meaning. Find the sentence with the word, and look beside it for a definition, an example or a contrast. Then put each choice in the word's place.
Looking back is part of reading. In a 2014 study by Elizabeth Schotter and colleagues, readers whose screen hid each word once their eyes had moved past it understood less than when they could go back and reread.
Four worked examples
Each example is a real question from the Reading skills practice, with its passage from the site's own bank. Try each one before you read the steps. Reading skills shuffles the choices every round, so the letters are one order it can show. The marked line is the one the practice highlights after you answer.
Example 1: main idea (Level 2)
Where Price Comes From
Sellers choose prices, but supply and demand influence what buyers will pay. Supply is the amount sellers offer. Demand is the amount buyers are willing and able to buy at a given price.
When more people want a product and supply stays limited, the price may rise. When demand falls but supply stays the same, sellers may lower the price to attract buyers. Prices emerge from these decisions and other conditions, such as costs and competition. In a simple market model, balance occurs at a price where the amount offered matches the amount buyers want to purchase.
What is the passage mainly about?
- AHow to choose a name for a business
- BWhy production costs never affect sellers
- CHow supply and demand influence prices
- DHow buyers can remove all competition
- Name the topic: prices, and what shapes them.
- Find the sentence that says what the passage claims about it. Here it is the first one, and every later sentence explains it.
The line that answers it
Sellers choose prices, but supply and demand influence what buyers will pay.
The answer is C. The passage never mentions a business name, and it names costs among the things that shape a price.
Example 2: inference (Level 1)
The Umbrella Box
The rain started at three. Ren stood at the school door with no umbrella and ten blocks to walk.
Mr. Otis, the janitor, was mopping the hall. He looked at the rain, then at Ren. He took his own umbrella from a hook. "Take it," he said. "Bring it back tomorrow."
Ren brought it back dry the next morning. "Thank you," he said. "Pass the favor on," said Mr. Otis. "That is all the rent I charge."
On Saturday, Ren found two old umbrellas at home. On Monday he set a box by the school door with a sign: TAKE ONE. BRING IT BACK. By spring, the box held nine umbrellas, ready for other students to borrow.
What does Mr. Otis mean by "That is all the rent I charge"?
- AHe wants no payment; passing the favor on is enough.
- BRen must pay him a small amount of money.
- CHe wants Ren to return two umbrellas instead of one.
- DHe plans to start renting umbrellas to students.
- The quoted words close the third paragraph. Read the sentence just before them.
- Mr. Otis has just named his price, and it is a favor done for someone else.
The line that answers it
"Pass the favor on," said Mr. Otis.
The answer is A. Rent here is not money. The wrong choices read it as money, or add a demand or a plan nobody mentions.
Example 3: detail (Level 2)
Eating Sunlight
Animals must find food to get energy, but green plants make their own. Inside their leaves are tiny green parts that capture sunlight. The plant uses that light energy to combine water from the soil with a gas called carbon dioxide from the air.
This process turns those simple ingredients into sugar, which feeds the plant and helps it grow. The process is called photosynthesis.
As a bonus, the plant releases oxygen, the gas that people and animals need to breathe. So when you stand near a leafy tree on a sunny day, the tree is quietly building food and freshening the air at the same time.
According to the text, what gas do plants release during photosynthesis?
- ACarbon dioxide
- BNitrogen
- CSteam
- DOxygen
- Take the key word from the question, release. It appears once, in the last paragraph.
- Read that whole sentence. It names the gas.
The line that answers it
As a bonus, the plant releases oxygen, the gas that people and animals need to breathe.
The answer is D. Carbon dioxide is in the passage too, but as the gas the plant takes from the air.
Example 4: word meaning (Level 1)
The Frog That Freezes
The wood frog can survive cold winters beneath leaves on the forest floor. As temperatures fall, some of the water in its body freezes. Its heart can stop beating, and it stops breathing. The frog lies still until warmer conditions return.
How does it survive? As freezing begins, its body releases large amounts of glucose, a type of sugar. This helps protect its cells while ice forms around them. The cells themselves must avoid freezing inside.
When the ground warms, the ice melts. The heart starts beating again, and the frog gradually becomes active. This ability to survive partial freezing helps wood frogs live in places where winter is long and cold.
What does “still” mean when describing the frog?
- Aeven now
- Bwithout moving
- Ccalm, like quiet water
- Din the same place every year
- Find the sentence that uses the word. It ends the first paragraph.
- The sentence before it says the frog’s heart can stop beating, and it stops breathing.
The line that answers it
The frog lies still until warmer conditions return.
The answer is B. Only without moving fits a frog whose heart has stopped. Even now and calm are real meanings of still, but not this one.
Common traps
Right words, wrong role. A wrong choice can reuse words from the passage, as carbon dioxide does in example 3. Check what the words do in their sentence.
True but too small. A main idea choice can state one true detail. Ask whether it covers the whole passage. The lesson Find the main idea works through this.
Reading too much in. In example 2, taking rent to mean money skips the line before it. A choice that needs facts the passage never gives goes too far, as Do not infer too much shows.
The meaning you already know. In example 4, even now is a real meaning of still. The sentence decides which meaning fits, as Choose the meaning that fits shows.
Choosing by the look of a choice. Picking the longest choice, or avoiding words such as never, reads no passage. Reading skills chooses its questions so that no shortcut of that kind is right more than 30 percent of the time. The line is what works.
How to practise it here
Use Reading skills to practise one kind at a time, or All four for two of each. A round is eight short passages with one question each, with no time limit. After you answer, the line that answers the question is highlighted and quoted. When no single line does, none is marked. After a miss, a tip for that passage follows. It asks 41 main idea, 164 inference, 461 detail and 220 word meaning questions, so main idea questions come round again soonest.
Then try Reading comprehension. It hides the passage when you select Done reading, and you answer from memory. In 639 of its 651 passages, the four questions are one of each kind. So find the lines while you read.
The lessons Locate the right detail, Use clues, not guesses and Use context clues each take one kind in three steps. For speed and the pacer, see Reading speed and pacing. The score describes these passages on that day, nothing wider.
Related practices on this site
- Synonyms in context. Word meaning on its own: choose what a marked word means in one sentence.
Questions people ask
What are the main types of reading comprehension questions?
This guide sorts them into four kinds. Main idea asks what the whole passage is mostly about. Inference asks what the passage shows without saying it. Detail asks for a fact the passage states. Word meaning asks what a word means in this passage. The SAT specifications for its Reading and Writing section list Central Ideas and Details, Inferences and Words in Context.
How do you find the main idea of a passage?
Name the topic, then find the sentence that says what the passage claims about it. Try the first and the last sentence first. In a story, look at what changes between the beginning and the end. Then check that your choice covers the whole passage. A wrong choice can state one true detail that is too small to be the main idea.
How do you answer inference questions?
Find the line the answer rests on: an action, a quote or a stated fact. The right choice follows from that line and adds nothing more. An inference is not written down, but a line of the passage should back it up. A choice that needs facts the passage never gives goes too far, even when it sounds likely.
How do you work out what a word means in context?
Find the sentence with the word, and look beside it for a definition, an example or a contrast. The clue can be in the sentence next to it. Then put each choice in the word's place and read the sentence again. A meaning you already know can be a real meaning of the word and still not be the one this sentence uses.
Should you look back at the passage when you answer?
Yes, when the test lets you. Looking back is part of reading. In a 2014 study by Elizabeth Schotter and colleagues, readers whose screen hid each word once their eyes had moved past it understood less than when they could go back and reread. For a detail question, take a key word from the question, scan for it, and read the whole sentence you land on.
Sources
- College Board. The Reading and Writing section, SAT Suite of Assessments.
- College Board. Reading and Writing specifications, SAT Suite of Assessments.
- The Nation's Report Card. About the NAEP Reading Assessment: the framework.
- Schotter, E. R., Tran, R. and Rayner, K. (2014). Don't believe what you read (only once): comprehension is supported by regressions during reading. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1218 to 1226.