Matching headings
Match headings to paragraphs by finding each paragraph's main idea, not its most eye-catching detail. Learn where main ideas hide, why a heading that repeats a word is often a trap, and a cross-out method that works under time pressure.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Distinguish a paragraph's main idea from its supporting details, examples, data and background
- Recognise where the main idea sits in common paragraph patterns, especially 'turn' paragraphs signalled by however or yet
- Avoid word-matching distractors and headings that describe only part of a paragraph
- Use a paragraph-by-paragraph, cross-out method and make the example work for you
- Complete a seven-paragraph headings task with a list of ten headings in about 13 minutes
What the task looks like
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A–G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i–x, in boxes 14–20 on your answer sheet.
Then comes a box titled List of Headings with headings numbered in lower-case Roman numerals: i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii, viii, ix, x.
Facts you must know:
- There are more headings than paragraphs, usually two to four extra. Some headings will not be used.
- Each heading is used only once. There is no "NB you may use any heading more than once" in this task.
- Sometimes an example is given (e.g. Paragraph A: iv). Sometimes only some paragraphs are tested (Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B–F).
- The questions follow the paragraph order: Question 14 = the first paragraph tested, and so on.
- You write the Roman numeral (e.g. vii), not the heading text. Write it clearly; a careless vi that looks like iv costs a mark.
What a heading really is
A heading is a title for the whole paragraph. It answers one question: What is this paragraph mainly doing? Is it describing a problem? Explaining causes? Evaluating a solution? Tracing a history? Comparing two things? Reporting a change of opinion?
Everything else in the paragraph (examples, statistics, names, dates, quotations, explanations) is supporting detail. Details support the main idea; they are not the main idea. A good test is the umbrella test: if you hold the heading over the paragraph like an umbrella, does every sentence fit underneath it? If one or two sentences are left out in the rain, the heading is too narrow.
A detail heading vs a main-idea heading
Detail heading ✗
When the first export-oriented garment factories opened in Chattogram in the late 1970s, few observers expected them to transform the national economy. Within three decades, however, ready-made garments had become Bangladesh's largest export, and factory work had drawn millions of women into paid employment for the first time. Economists now point to this shift, more than the export earnings themselves, as the industry's most far-reaching consequence, citing its effects on girls' schooling, age at marriage and decision-making within households.
Heading: The opening of the first factories in Chattogram
It matches only the first half of sentence 1. The rest of the paragraph is left out in the rain.
Main-idea heading ✓
Same paragraph.
Heading: A social change more significant than economic growth
This covers the whole paragraph: the factories' unexpected impact (sentences 1–2) and the key claim in the final sentence, that women's employment matters more than export earnings. Notice it uses none of the paragraph's words: social change paraphrases girls' schooling, age at marriage, decision-making.
The main idea here is in the LAST sentence, not the first. The first sentence is background. If you had read only the first sentence, you would have chosen the detail heading and lost the mark.
Where is the main idea hiding?
| Paragraph pattern | Signals to notice | Where the main idea usually is |
|---|---|---|
Topic sentence first | A general statement, then for example, such as, data, names | Sentence 1; the rest supports it |
The turn (contrast) | However, Yet, But, In fact, Nevertheless, Surprisingly after a sentence or two | After the turn. The opening was background or the view being challenged |
Build-up to a conclusion | Examples first, then Thus, Therefore, As a result, This shows that, In other words | The final sentence or two |
Question and answer | The paragraph opens with a question: Why…? What explains…? How can…? | The answer, later in the paragraph |
Problem → solution | challenge, difficulty, obstacle… then one approach, a remedy, a response | Often the solution, or the relationship between both (e.g. a partial answer to an old problem) |
Historical / chronological | In 1890…, Later…, By the 1950s…, Since then… | The overall development or turning point, not any single date |
Evaluation | advantages, drawbacks, effective but…, limited, however | The balance, e.g. a useful but imperfect method |
For most of the twentieth century, the monsoon floods that cover large parts of Bangladesh each year were seen purely as a disaster to be controlled. Embankments were built along major rivers, and engineers measured success by how much water they could keep off the land. In recent years, however, a growing number of hydrologists have argued that this view was incomplete. Seasonal floods, they point out, deposit the fertile silt on which the delta's agriculture depends, recharge groundwater and sustain fisheries, benefits that rigid embankments can destroy.
Which heading fits best?
- a. The construction of river embankments
- b. A rethink of the value of flooding
- c. How engineers measured success
- d. The destructive power of the monsoon
- Sentences 1–2Background: the old view of floods as disasters to be controlled. Headings a, c and d all come from this part. They describe details of the old view, not the paragraph's point.
- The turn“In recent years, however, …” is the key signal. Everything before it is the view being challenged.
- Main ideaThe old view was incomplete because floods also bring benefits. Heading b, “A rethink of the value of flooding”, covers the turn and the evidence after it. Answer: b.
- Word-match warningHeading a repeats “embankments”; heading c repeats “engineers” and “success”. Exact repetition of words from one sentence is a warning sign, not a reason to choose.
Why you must read the whole paragraph
You may have been taught to read only the first and last sentences. It is a useful starting point, but it fails in three common situations:
- The turn comes in the middle. As in the flood paragraph, sentence 3 can overturn sentences 1–2.
- The last sentence is a bridge. It may introduce the topic of the next paragraph (“But cost was not the only problem.”).
- The opening is background or a question. The answer, the real point, comes later.
A practical routine: read the first two sentences, let your eyes run through the middle looking for signal words (however, therefore, for example, the main reason), then read the last sentence. If two headings are still possible, read the whole paragraph carefully. It takes 30 seconds and saves two marks.
Spot the one word that makes the difference
Headings lists often contain near-pairs: two headings on the same topic that differ in one key word. Underline that word before you read the passage.
| Near-pair | The deciding contrast |
|---|---|
| The causes of rising sea levels / The consequences of rising sea levels | cause vs effect |
| Early attempts to solve the problem / Early success in solving the problem | tried vs worked |
| A proposed solution / A solution already in use | future vs present |
| Why experts disagree / Why experts changed their minds | conflict vs development |
| A cheap but limited remedy / An effective but costly remedy | which part is the weakness? |
| The decline of an industry / The revival of an industry | direction of change |
The paragraph-by-paragraph method
- 1
Read the instructions and use the example
Note how many paragraphs are tested. If an example is given, find that heading in the list and cross it out: it will not be needed again. Read the example paragraph quickly beside its heading to see how general the headings are.
- 2
Read the whole list of headings (about 1 minute)
Underline the key word in each heading, especially words that separate near-pairs: causes / effects, past / future, problem / solution, success / failure, limited / effective.
- 3
Read one paragraph, all of it
First two sentences, signals in the middle, last sentence; read in full if unsure. Ask: What is this paragraph mainly doing?
- 4
Summarise it in 3–5 words before looking at the list
For example: causes working together, cheap fix, but limits. Your own summary protects you from being pulled by attractive word matches.
- 5
Match and shortlist
Compare your summary with the headings that are still available. If two remain, go back and find the deciding word in the paragraph.
- 6
Cross out or write two options
If you are sure, write the numeral and cross the heading out. If you are not, write both possible numerals next to the paragraph and move on. Later answers often settle earlier doubts by elimination.
- 7
Final check (1 minute)
Look at the unused headings. Is any of them a better fit for a paragraph you were unsure about? Make sure no answer is blank and no numeral is used twice.
Check your understanding
6 questions- 1
Choose the best heading for this paragraph:
When mobile financial services were launched in Bangladesh in 2011, they were designed mainly to help urban workers send money to relatives in villages. Today their uses are far broader. Farmers receive payments for their crops, students pay university fees, and garment workers receive their wages directly to their phones. In effect, a tool built for a single purpose has become part of the basic infrastructure of everyday economic life.
- 2
A paragraph begins with two sentences describing a traditional belief. The third sentence starts “However, recent research…”. Where is the main idea most likely to be?
- 3
In a matching headings task, there are usually more headings in the list than paragraphs to match.
- 4
A heading that repeats a key word from the paragraph is usually the correct answer.
- 5
Choose TWO features that are typical of a distractor heading.
Select 2.
- 6
Match each signal with the paragraph pattern it suggests.
“However, recent studies…” after two background sentences“Therefore…” in the final sentenceThe paragraph opens “Why do some cities flood more than others?”A general claim, then “for example” and “such as”
Answer every question to check.
Exam practice: matching headings
Work at exam pace. The timer is a guide — it won't stop you.
Final quiz: matching headings
9 questions- 1
Choose the best heading for this paragraph:
Few vehicles have been restricted, defended and argued over as often as the cycle rickshaw. Dhaka's authorities have tried repeatedly to remove rickshaws from major roads, arguing that they slow traffic. Each attempt, however, has met fierce resistance, and for a simple reason: for hundreds of thousands of migrants from rural areas, pulling a rickshaw is the most accessible source of income in the city. Any policy on rickshaws is therefore, at heart, a policy on employment.
- 2
Choose the best heading for this paragraph:
It is tempting to explain the decline of the honeybee by pointing to a single villain. Pesticides, parasitic mites, poor nutrition and the stress of moving hives over long distances have each been blamed in turn. Yet studies that follow colonies over several years increasingly suggest that these pressures interact: a colony weakened by poor nutrition, for example, is far less able to survive an infestation of mites.
- 3
The first and last sentences of a paragraph always contain its main idea.
- 4
You have narrowed paragraph D down to “Early attempts to solve the problem” and “Early success in solving the problem”. What should you do?
- 5
Choose TWO true statements about the matching headings task.
Select 2.
- 6
Match each heading with the job the paragraph is doing.
The causes of the declineA promising but untested approachA shift in expert opinionConsequences for local communities - 7
Put the paragraph-by-paragraph method in order.
Drag the cards (or use the arrows) into the correct order.
- 1Cross out the heading you used, or note two options and return later
- 2Compare your summary with the remaining headings and choose or shortlist
- 3Cross out the example heading and read the whole list, underlining key words
- 4Summarise the paragraph in 3–5 words of your own
- 5Read one paragraph: opening sentences, signals in the middle, final sentence
- 8
In the headings task you write each answer as a lower-case numeral, such as vii.
- 9
If you are unsure about a paragraph, it is sensible to note two possible headings and come back to it after doing the others.
Answer every question to check.
Key takeaways
Vocabulary from the passage
Saved as flashcards with a free accountphenomenon
noun/fəˈnɒmɪnən/
a fact or event that can be observed, especially one that is studied or not fully understood (plural: phenomena)
ঘটনা, প্রপঞ্চ
The urban heat island is a well-documented phenomenon in large cities such as Dhaka.
absorb
verb/əbˈzɔːb/
to take in heat, light, liquid or energy
শোষণ করা
Dark tin roofs absorb a great deal of heat during the afternoon.
evaporation
noun/ɪˌvæpəˈreɪʃn/
the process in which a liquid changes into a gas, which cools the surface it leaves
বাষ্পীভবন
Evaporation from leaves helps trees cool the air around them.
vulnerable
adjective/ˈvʌlnərəbl/
easily harmed physically, emotionally or economically
ঝুঁকিপূর্ণ, অরক্ষিত
Outdoor workers are especially vulnerable during long heatwaves.
calibrate
verb/ˈkælɪbreɪt/
to check and adjust a measuring instrument so that its readings are accurate
যন্ত্রের মাপ ঠিক করা
The sensors were calibrated against an official weather station before the study began.
mitigate
verb/ˈmɪtɪɡeɪt/
to make something harmful less severe or serious
প্রশমিত করা, কমানো
Planting trees along main roads can help to mitigate extreme heat.
dense
adjective/dens/
containing many people or buildings in a small area
ঘন, ঘনবসতিপূর্ণ
Old Dhaka is one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world.
reflective
adjective/rɪˈflektɪv/
sending back light or heat from a surface
প্রতিফলক
A reflective coating on the roof kept the classroom noticeably cooler.
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