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Information and IdeasEasyMain idea of a short informational text

Information and Ideas practice question

Bamboo looks like a tree but is a grass. Some species grow almost a metre in a single day, and a bamboo grove sends up new stems from one underground network of roots, so what appears to be a forest can be a single connected plant.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

  1. A. Although it resembles a tree, bamboo is a fast-growing grass whose stems can share one root system.Correct
  2. B. Bamboo is the tallest plant in the world.
  3. C. Bamboo grows slowly from seeds scattered by the wind.
  4. D. Bamboo forests crowd out other kinds of plants.

Answer: A. Although it resembles a tree, bamboo is a fast-growing grass whose stems can share one root system.

The text makes three linked points — bamboo is a grass, it grows fast, and its stems are connected underground. Choice A gathers all three.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. Bamboo is the tallest plant in the world.
The text says bamboo grows fast, not that it is the tallest plant.
C. Bamboo grows slowly from seeds scattered by the wind.
The text describes growth of almost a metre a day, from roots — not slow growth from seeds.
D. Bamboo forests crowd out other kinds of plants.
Nothing in the text concerns other plants.

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