A CONTINUATION OF A STUDY OF PUPILS' ABILITY TO FORMULATE AND STATE A LITERAL MAIN IDEA IN THE READING OF SHORT, SPECIALLY CONSTRUCTED PARAGRAPHS IS REPORTED. ONE OF THE MAJOR TASKS WAS TO DEVELOP A DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF THE MAIN IDEA RESPONSES FOR A GROUP OF 400 SECOND- AND FIFTH-GRADE PUPILS. A 12-POINT SCALE WAS USED FOR THE NUMERICAL ORDERING OF RESPONSES OF THREE PARAGRAPHS AT THE FIRST-GRADE READABILITY LEVEL. RESPONSES REQUIRED A SYNTHESIS OF BOTH SUBJECT AND PREDICATE IN ONE SENTENCE AND WERE CODED AND CATEGORIZED BY THREE JUDGES. DATA FROM BOTH GRADES WERE EXAMINED SEPARATELY TO MAKE INFORMAL COMPARISONS. INTERJUDGE RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS WERE VERY HIGH FOR PARAGRAPHS COMBINED AND SEPARATE. LOW INTERPARAGRAPH CORRELATIONS INDICATED THE PARAGRAPHS WERE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. SECOND GRADERS TENDED TO REPLY IN TITLE-LIKE RESPONSES, INDICATING AN INABILITY TO COPE WITH COMPLETE STATEMENTS. SINCE THE MAJORITY OF FIFTH GRADERS WERE ABLE TO RESPOND ADEQUATELY, THERE IS A NEED FOR WORK WITH MORE COMPLEX TASKS AT THIS LEVEL. FURTHER EXPERIMENTATN IS PLANNED. REFERENCES ARE LISTED. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE (BOSTON, APRIL 24-27, 1968). (MC)