📚 Detailed Explanation of Identifying Supporting Details in Informational Texts
When you read an informational text, like a book about animals or a newspaper article, you want to understand the main idea and the important facts that support it. These important facts are called supporting details. Supporting details help explain, prove, or give more information about the main idea. Finding supporting details is an important skill in Year 6 English because it helps you understand what you read better and remember key information.
🔎 What Are Supporting Details?
Supporting details are facts, examples, or explanations that tell you more about the main idea. If the main idea is the big point the writer wants you to understand, supporting details are the smaller pieces of information that make the big point clearer or stronger. For example, if a text’s main idea is that lions are good hunters, the supporting details could be how lions use teamwork, what they eat, or where they live.
🌟 Why Are Supporting Details Important?
Supporting details are important because they help you:
- Understand the main idea better,
- Find evidence to explain why something is true,
- Answer questions about the text,
- Summarise the text accurately, and
- Improve your writing by using facts and details.
📝 How to Identify Supporting Details in Informational Texts
Finding supporting details means you look carefully at the text to spot the sentences or phrases that give information about the main idea. Here are some steps to help you:
- Find the Main Idea First: Read the text or the paragraph and think about what it is mostly about. Sometimes the main idea is at the beginning or the end of the paragraph, but not always.
- Look for Clues: Supporting details often answer questions like who, what, where, when, why, or how. They might be facts, examples, definitions, or reasons.
- Use Headings or Subheadings: These often tell you what kind of information the following section will have. Pay attention to these to predict supporting details.
- Spot Signal Words: Words like “for example,” “because,” “such as,” or “in addition” introduce supporting details.
- Underline or Highlight: When you read, underline or highlight the facts or explanations that explain the main idea.
- Ask Yourself: Does this detail give more information about the main idea? If yes, it is probably a supporting detail.
✅ Practice Tip
Try reading a short informational text and highlight the main idea sentence. Then, underline three or four sentences that give supporting details. This will help you get better at spotting these important parts of the text. Remember, practising this skill makes reading easier and more fun!
By learning how to identify supporting details, you will become a stronger reader and improve your understanding of all kinds of informational texts!
📝 20 Examination-Style Questions with Answers on Identifying Supporting Details in Informational Texts
1. Multiple Choice
Question:
Which sentence from the text best supports the main idea that “Penguins live in cold places“?
a) Penguins are birds that cannot fly.
b) Penguins have thick feathers for warmth.
c) Penguins eat fish and squid.
d) Penguins swim underwater very fast.
Answer:
b) Penguins have thick feathers for warmth.
2. True or False
Question:
The supporting details explain the main idea more clearly. True or False?
Answer:
True
3. Fill in the Blank
Question:
Find a supporting detail that tells us why recycling is important.
Answer: Recycling helps reduce waste in landfills.
4. Short Answer
Question:
What are supporting details about the seasons in the paragraph?
Answer:
The paragraph mentions that winter is cold and snowy and summer is warm and sunny.
5. Multiple Choice
Question:
What detail supports the idea that trees are important for the environment?
a) Trees lose their leaves in autumn.
b) Trees give us oxygen to breathe.
c) Trees can grow very tall.
d) Trees have roots underground.
Answer:
b) Trees give us oxygen to breathe.
6. Matching
Question:
Match these supporting details to their main ideas:
1) Bees help pollinate flowers.
2) Solar energy comes from the sun.
3) Dolphins are very intelligent.
a) How animals help plants
b) Different sources of energy
c) Animal intelligence
Answer:
1 – a, 2 – b, 3 – c
7. Multiple Choice
Question:
Which sentence is a supporting detail for the main idea “Bats live mostly at night“?
a) Bats hang upside down during the day.
b) Bats use echolocation to find food.
c) Bats have furry bodies.
d) Bats build nests in trees.
Answer:
a) Bats hang upside down during the day.
8. True or False
Question:
Supporting details always come before the main idea in a paragraph. True or False?
Answer:
False
9. Short Answer
Question:
What supporting detail tells you why exercise is good for your health?
Answer:
Exercise helps your heart stay strong.
10. Multiple Choice
Question:
Which detail supports the statement “Volcanoes can be dangerous“?
a) Lava is melted rock.
b) Volcanoes can erupt suddenly.
c) Volcanoes are mountains.
d) Volcanoes release gases.
Answer:
b) Volcanoes can erupt suddenly.
11. Fill in the Blank
Question:
A supporting detail in the text explains that honeybees make honey because ________________.
Answer:
they store it as food.
12. Multiple Choice
Question:
Which sentence supports the main idea “The water cycle is natural“?
a) Water falls as rain.
b) Water evaporates from lakes and rivers.
c) People use water for drinking.
d) Oceans are very large.
Answer:
b) Water evaporates from lakes and rivers.
13. Matching
Question:
Match the supporting detail to the main idea about animals:
1) Camels store fat in their humps.
2) Frogs lay eggs in water.
3) Eagles have sharp talons.
a) Animal survival
b) Animal reproduction
c) Animal hunting
Answer:
1 – a, 2 – b, 3 – c
14. Short Answer
Question:
Give a supporting detail that explains how plants get water.
Answer:
Plants absorb water through their roots.
15. Multiple Choice
Question:
Which detail supports the main idea that “The human brain is very powerful“?
a) The brain controls our thoughts and movements.
b) The brain is protected by the skull.
c) The brain weighs about three pounds.
d) The brain has many parts.
Answer:
a) The brain controls our thoughts and movements.
16. True or False
Question:
Supporting details must always be facts from the text. True or False?
Answer:
True
17. Multiple Choice
Question:
What is a supporting detail for “Electric cars help the environment“?
a) Electric cars do not use petrol.
b) Electric cars are very fast.
c) Electric cars have batteries.
d) Electric cars can be charged at home.
Answer:
a) Electric cars do not use petrol.
18. Fill in the Blank
Question:
A detail that supports the idea that the sun is important is ________________.
Answer:
the sun gives us light and warmth.
19. Short Answer
Question:
Why does the text say that sea turtles are endangered? Give one supporting detail.
Answer:
Because their beaches are being destroyed.
20. Multiple Choice
Question:
Which detail supports the main idea that “Reading helps improve vocabulary“?
a) You can read books on many topics.
b) Reading often shows new words.
c) Reading takes time and patience.
d) Reading is a quiet activity.
Answer:
b) Reading often shows new words.
