There has been an error in the display of this page. There has been an error in the display of this page. Main Idea: Exercise 3 - Determining the main idea of a passage Instructions: Read the passage and type its main idea in the box provided. Click on the KEY PHRASES button to see important phrases.   Passage 2 of 4 Next Passage >> This passage was adapted from Beyond Rivalry by Elizabeth Stark. "Topics for Today" by Larraine C. Smith and Nancy Nici Mare. Thomson Heinle, 2004.        "In our lives, we draw comfort and nurturance from a group of people that we have various relationships with," says psychologist Toni C. Antonucci of the University of Michigan. However, for reasons such as death, sickness or moving, the size of this group dwindles as we age. That is when siblings could become an important source of contact and support. Even though we may not have counted our brothers and sisters among our closest contacts earlier, they can become so in old age. Many aging people believe that the loneliness they feel cannot be alleviated by just anyone. Only a relationship with someone who has shared their past could fill the emptiness, they say. Write the main idea here There has been an error in the display of this page.