Finding main idea 4 pdf

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Structure

Now that you’ve covered the basics, you can begin to focus on one specific

reading comprehension strategy: structure. How do writers organize their

ideas?

You might want to think of a writer as an architect. Every building has a number of

rooms. But how these rooms are arranged is up to the architect. The same goes for a piece

of writing—how the sentences and ideas are arranged is entirely up to the writer. How￾ever, most architects—and most writers—generally follow certain patterns, not because

they can’t think on their own, but because these patterns work. In this section, you’ll study

four organizational patterns that work for writers:

1. Chronological order

2. Order of importance

3. Compare and contrast

4. Cause and effect

You’ll learn to recognize these patterns and some of the reasons why writers use them.