Main idea is called the topic sentence (Mc. Whother, 1986:36). It tells the content of the paragraph. In other word, the main idea is the important ideas that is developed by the writer throughout paragraph and sometimes are available in key words and explicit or implicit message. For example: The topic is the story of “Cinderella”. From the topic the writer delivered his/her idea about the story by giving one main idea in one paragraph. Once upon a time, there was a girl called Cinderella. Cinderella lived happily with her mother and father until her mother died.

Feel that Cinderella needs a mother figure in her life, Cinderella’s father remarries to a woman who has two daughters of her own. Unfortunately, Cinderella’s father dies and she lived only with her stepmother and stepsisters. They were very bossy, she had to do all the housework. It was quite true Cinderella even dressed in rags with dusty gray face from the cinders was a lovely girl. While her stepsisters no matter how splendid and elegant their clothes were still clumsy, lumpy and ugly.

Cinderella lived with her step mother and two step sisters. (It is called main or important idea because it will be developed by specific information or supporting idea and become paragraph 1)