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Main Topic of the Whole Text is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on naming what a multi-paragraph text is about, aligned to Common Core standard RI.2.2. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 21 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Main Topic of the Whole Text

RI.2.2

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Earthquakes

The Earth's crust is not one piece. It is broken into huge slabs called plates, and the plates are always moving — about as fast as your fingernails grow. Where two plates meet, they can catch on each other. Pressure builds up for years while they are stuck. When they finally slip, all that stored energy is released at once. The ground shakes. That shaking is an earthquake. Most earthquakes are too small to feel. A few are strong enough to bring down buildings, which is why new buildings in some places are made to sway.

  1. 1. Summarise this text in one sentence.
  2. 2. What is the main topic of this text?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Launching a Lifeboat

When a boat is in trouble, a call goes out to the lifeboat station. Pagers sound. The crew are volunteers, so they stop whatever they are doing and drive to the station. Most arrive within six minutes. They pull on drysuits and lifejackets and climb aboard. The boat slides down a ramp into the sea and the engines start. At sea, the crew look for a flare, a light, or a shape in the water. Once they find the boat, they take the people off first and the boat second. A lifeboat can right itself if a wave rolls it over.

  1. 1. What is the main topic of this text?
  2. 2. Summarise this text in one sentence.

LessonPrint · RI.2.2 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Main Topic of the Whole Text

Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Moving plates of the Earth's crust catch on each other, build pressure, and shake the ground when they slip. 2. Earthquakes, and what causes the ground to shake.
  2. 2.1. How a lifeboat is launched and used in a rescue. 2. A pager call brings volunteers to the station, they suit up, launch down a ramp and take the people off a boat in trouble.

More practice for RI.2.2

Say what the whole text is about and what each paragraph is about.

Teaching this next? The Main Topic of Each Paragraph is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 2 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.2.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.