Course title: ENG-110.

01- Composition I

BS English

Lecture Notes
3

Topic:
Relevant and Irrelevant Information

Department of English
School of Arts & Social Sciences
GIFT University Gujranwala

Relevant and Irrelevant

Information
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Relevant Information:
The details in the text that help/support the author’s main ideas. 

Irrelevant information:
The extra information about the main idea that is not important to the main idea. 

Distinguishing between Relevant & Irrelevant Information

Steps for identifying the relevant information while reading:

1. Establishing a purpose for reading
2. Skimming the entire text while keeping the purpose in mind
3. Highlighting/underlining the most relevant information/keywords/topic sentences while
skipping the irrelevant information/grammatical words.
4. Scanning the text in depth for specific information according to the purpose

How to Find Irrelevant Sentences?

Irrelevant sentences distract readers from the main point of the passage. This is because they do not
relate to or support the main idea. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid using irrelevant sentences in
writing and to be able to spot them as a reader. The simplest way to identify irrelevant sentences in a
passage is to ask yourself the following three questions:
1. What is the main idea of the passage? The main idea of a passage is the overall topic. From our
example, the main idea is chickens. As a reader, it is important to understand the main idea of
text. As a writer, it is important to construct sentences to support your main idea.
2. Does each sentence in the passage relate to or support that main idea? To revisit our example
passage from earlier in the lesson, the three sentences that discuss chickens support the main
idea of chickens. The sentence about the red truck does not. This sentence does not support or
relate to the main idea. It is an irrelevant sentence.
3. Are there sentences that seem disconnected or that distract me as a reader? Any sentence that
seems distracting is probably an irrelevant sentence. Accordingly, sentences that do not
connect to the main idea should be avoided. Asking yourself about distracting sentences and
those that seem out of place is a solid step toward identifying irrelevant sentences in a passage.

Example

Read the following passage:

Football is a popular sport. Football can be played in two formats: tackle football and flag
football. Both types of football require special equipment. Snack food at stadiums is expensive.

Okay, now that you've read the passage, let's move through the three questions for identifying
irrelevant sentences:
What is the main idea of the passage?
The main idea is football.
Does each sentence in the passage support the main idea?
No! There is a sentence that does not connect to the topic of football.
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Are there sentences that were distracting or disconnected from the main topic?
The sentence about stadium snacks was distracting, wasn't it? It did not do anything to support the
main topic of football, so it should be removed.

Sample Paragraphs

Find the irrelevant sentences in the following paragraphs.

1. Everest
(I) May 10, 1996 was the deadliest day in Everest history. (II) A storm stranded many climbers near
the summit and killed eight people. (III) Among those who died were Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. (IV)
Both were experienced guides and were leading paid expeditions to the summit. (V) Everest can be
climbed without supplementary oxygen, but this requires special fitness training.

I      II     III     IV     V

2. Education

(I) At one time in the history of education, one had to be wealthy to attend school. (II) At other times,
women were kept from attending school, despite their standing in finances. (III) Financial aid was
widely available to aid those less fortunate. (IV) Today, this is not the case because school attendance
is obligatory. (V) The law requires students who are between six and 16 years of age to attend school.

I      II     III     IV     V

3. Renaissance Women

(I) During the Renaissance period, all the women wore a corset. (II) Moreover, a woman was put to
shame if she was found absent of a corset. (III) Corsets resembled a cone, as they were small at the
waist and uplifting at the bosom. (IV) They have been with us for many centuries. (V) They were used
to hide the thick waist since at that period in time, a 15 to 18 inch waist was acceptable.

I      II     III     IV     V

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