Identify supporting details in literary texts
key notes:
Definition of Supporting Details
- Supporting details are facts, examples, or descriptions that explain, prove, or give more information about the main idea in a text.
Main Idea vs. Supporting Details
- The main idea is what the paragraph or story is mostly about.
- The supporting details help to develop or support that main idea.
Types of Supporting Details
- Examples: Specific instances that illustrate a point.
- Descriptions: Words that create imagery or explain things more clearly.
- Actions/Events: What characters do or what happens in the story.
- Dialogue: What characters say can reveal important points.
How to Identify Supporting Details
- Ask: What evidence supports the main idea?
- Look for: facts, character thoughts, actions, or words that give clues about the theme or message.
Signal Words
- Words like for example, such as, because, in addition, and also often introduce supporting details.
Why Supporting Details Matter
- They help readers understand characters, settings, and plots.
- They build deeper meaning and help the reader connect with the text.
- They help you answer comprehension questions accurately.
Learn with an example
Select the best evidence to support the statement that Patroclus relies on his father to know what to do.
‘I am Patroclus, son of Menoitius.’ My voice sounded high, and scratchy with disuse. ‘I am here as a suitor for Helen. My father is a king and the son of kings.’ I had no more to say. My father had not instructed me; he had not thought that Tyndareus would ask me to speak. I stood and carried the bowl to the pile of gifts, placed it where it would not topple. I turned and walked back to my bench. I had not disgraced myself with trembling or tripping, and my words had not been foolish. Still, my face burned with shame.
The text in bold best supports the statement that Patroclus relies on his father to know what to do.
‘I am Patroclus, son of Menoitius.’ My voice sounded high, and scratchy with disuse. ‘I am here as a suitor for Helen. My father is a king and the son of kings.’ I had no more to say. My father had not instructed me; he had not thought that Tyndareus would ask me to speak. I stood and carried the bowl to the pile of gifts, placed it where it would not topple. I turned and walked back to my bench. I had not disgraced myself with trembling or tripping, and my words had not been foolish. Still, my face burned with shame.
Patroclus says that he does not speak much because ‘my father had not instructed me’. This suggests that Patroclus relies on his father to know how to act in situations like the one described in this passage.
Select the best evidence to support the statement that the fox cares about the boy.
His boy would throw the toy, and he would track it down—a feat the boy always seemed to find remarkable. He would retrieve the toy and wait with it in his mouth until the boy found him and took it back to toss again.
And sure enough, the boy held the toy soldier aloft and then hurled it into the woods.. . .Whatever his boy needed—protection, distraction, affection—he would have offered.
Instead, he set off after the toy. Finding it was slightly more difficult than usual, as there were so many other, fresher odours in the woods.
The text in bold best supports the statement that the fox cares about the boy.
And sure enough, the boy held the toy soldier aloft and then hurled it into the woods. . . .Whatever his boy needed—protection, distraction, affection—he would have offered.
You can tell that the fox cares about the boy if he had seen that the boy was sad, he would have tried to help.
let’s practice!
Select the best evidence to support the statement that Riccio feels like grown-ups don’t understand him.
Prosper laughed. Riccio could always make him laugh, even if he didn’t feel like it. ‘Do you sometimes wish you were grown-up?’ he asked as they crossed a bridge and looked down at its hazy reflection on the water.
Riccio shook his head with astonishment. ‘No. Why? It’s great being young. You don’t stand out so much and your stomach fills up more quickly.’. . .He jumped from the bridge onto the street. ‘Children are caterpillars and adults are butterflies. No butterfly ever remembers what it felt like being a caterpillar.’
‘Probably not,’ Prosper sighed.