Skip to content
LessonPrint

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

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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.

Inside a Fire Engine

A fire engine carries everything a crew might need, because there is no time to go back for anything. It holds about eighteen hundred litres of water. That sounds like a lot, but a hose can empty it in under three minutes, so the crew connect to a hydrant as soon as they can. Ladders are carried on the roof. The longest can reach a third-floor window. Inside are cutting tools for road accidents, breathing sets for smoke, and a thermal camera that finds a hot spot through a wall. The engine is red so that it is seen. The siren is for when being seen is not enough.

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

LessonPrint · RI.2.2 · Set 8 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Main Topic of the Whole Text

Set 8. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. What a fire engine carries and why. 2. A fire engine carries water, ladders, cutting tools, breathing sets and a thermal camera, because there is no time to fetch anything.
  2. 2.1. Earthquakes, and what causes the ground to shake. 2. Moving plates of the Earth's crust catch on each other, build pressure, and shake the ground when they slip.

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.