Understanding Main Ideas One of the statements below expresses the main idea of the passage. statement is too general, or too broad. The other explains only part of the passage; it is too narrow. Label the statements M for main idea,B for too broad, and N for too narrow. __ a. People panicked when the stock market crashed. __ b. President Coolidge's hands-off policy affected the American economy. __ c. Speculation and panic caused the stock market to crash, weakening the

## Step 1<br />The first step in this problem is to understand the main idea of the passage. The passage discusses the impact of the stock market crash on the American economy, which was influenced by President Coolidge's hands-off policy.<br /><br />## Step 2<br />Next, we need to evaluate each statement based on its relevance to the main idea of the passage.<br /><br />### Statement a: "People panicked when the stock market crashed."<br />This statement is too narrow as it only focuses on the panic of people when the stock market crashed, which is only a part of the overall impact of the crash on the American economy.<br /><br />### Statement b: "President Coolidge's hands-off policy affected the American economy."<br />This statement is too broad as it does not specify how the hands-off policy affected the American economy. It could have had various effects, not all of which are discussed in the passage.<br /><br />### Statement c: "Speculation and panic caused the stock market to crash, weakening the economy."<br />This statement is the main idea of the passage as it encapsulates the overall impact of the stock market crash on the American economy, which is the focus of the passage.