main idea - ESL worksheet by manar.k - Free Printable

Let’s look at what the task is asking.

The image shows two boxes: one labeled “Mentor Text Modeling” and the other “Passage.” Both are about finding the main idea — which means the most important point or central thought of a story or text.

In the left box, it gives an example using the book *Chrysanthemum*. The main idea written there is:
> “Chrysanthemum gets teased for her name.”

That’s short and clear — it tells us the big thing that happens in that story.

Now, on the right side, there’s a longer passage about a fisherman and his wife who catch a magical talking fish. The fish grants wishes. The wife makes greedy wishes, and finally, the husband accidentally wastes the last wish by telling her to “button your lips,” and she ends up with buttons on her mouth!

At the bottom of that passage, part of the main idea is already filled in:
> “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his”

Wait — actually, looking again, it says:
> “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his” — but that doesn’t make sense as a full sentence. Let’s read the whole passage carefully.

Actually, rereading the highlighted part:
It says:
> “...suddenly there was a button on his wife’s mouth! In horror, he quickly [something] was back to normal. That was the last wishes.”

And then below that, it says:
> “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his”

Hmm — that seems cut off. But if we think about the story:

- First wish: gold (wasted because they just talked about it)
- Second wish: something else? Actually, no — let’s count:

1. Wife demands he go back and get wishes → that’s not a wish yet.
2. Fish agrees to grant three wishes when caught again.
3. First wish: gold → wasted because they just talk about it.
4. Second wish: ??? Not stated clearly — maybe implied?
5. Third wish: husband says “I wish you’d button your lips” → turns into actual buttons on her mouth → accident!

So really, only ONE wish was used intentionally (gold), and the third wish was accidental. But the text says “wastes two wishes.” Maybe the second wish was also wasted? Or perhaps the “two wishes” refers to the fact that the first wish (gold) was useless, and the third wish was accidental — so two were wasted.

But the key point is: the husband didn’t mean to use the last wish that way — he snapped in anger, and it backfired.

So the main idea should be something like:

> A fisherman’s greedy wife causes him to waste magical wishes, and he accidentally uses the last one to put buttons on her mouth.

But since the worksheet already started the sentence:
> “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his”

We need to finish it logically.

Looking at the yellow sticky note underneath — it has a table with stories and their main ideas. For example:

- Chrysanthemum → gets teased for her name
- Charlotte’s Web → Charlotte writes messages to save Wilbur
- Green Eggs and Ham → Sam convinces friend to eat green eggs and ham

These are all very short, simple summaries — just the core event.

So for the fisherman story, we want a short main idea that matches the style.

Given that the partial sentence is:
> “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his”

…we can complete it as:

> “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his greedy wife.”

Or even simpler:

> “...accidentally wastes two wishes trying to stop his wife’s greed.”

But wait — the original text says:
> “At last her husband snapped, ‘I wish that you’d button your lips for a bit,’ and suddenly there was a button on his wife’s mouth!”

So he didn’t mean to turn her lips into buttons — he meant it figuratively. So he accidentally used a magic wish to do something literal.

Also, earlier: “for hours talked of nothing else but what to wish for next” — so they didn’t use the first wish wisely. And the second wish isn’t mentioned — maybe it was also wasted?

Actually, re-reading:
“The fisherman agreed to appease his angry wife, and the talking fish did agree to grant three wishes when he was caught a second time. Now the wife wished for gold, and for hours talked of nothing else but what to wish for next.”

So:
- Wish 1: gold → wasted (they just talked about it)
- Wish 2: ??? Not said — maybe they never used it? Or maybe “talked of nothing else” implies they didn’t use it wisely?
- Wish 3: “button your lips” → accidental consequence

But the text says: “That was the last wishes.” Plural? Probably typo — should be “wish”.

And then: “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his”

Perhaps it’s saying he wasted two wishes total — the gold wish (useless) and the lip-button wish (accidental).

So completing the sentence:

> “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his greedy wife.”

That fits.

Alternatively, to match the simplicity of the Chrysanthemum example (“gets teased for her name”), we could say:

> “Fisherman accidentally wastes wishes because of his wife’s greed.”

But since the worksheet already started with “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his”, we should finish that phrase.

Final completion:

> “...accidentally wastes two wishes on his greedy wife.”

Yes — that’s clear, short, and captures the main point.

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Final Answer:
greedy wife