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Question

Firefighters are often asked to speak to school and community groups about the importance of fire safety, particularly fire prevention and detection. Because smoke detectors reduce the risk of dying in a fire by half, firefighters often provide audiences with information on how to install these protective devices in their homes.

Specially, they tell them these things: A smoke detector should be placed on each floor of a home. While sleeping people are in particular danger of an emergent fire, and there must be a detector outside each sleeping area. A good site for a detector would be a hallway that runs between living spaces and bedrooms.

Because of the dead-air space that might be missed by turbulent hot air bouncing around above a fire, smoke detectors should be installed either on the ceiling at least four inches from the nearest wall, or high on a wall at least four, but no further than twelve inches from the ceiling.

Detectors should not be mounted near windows, exterior doors, or other places where drafts might direct the smoke away from the unit. Nor should they be placed in kitchens and garages, where cooking and gas fumes are likely to cause false alarms.

What is the main focus of this passage?

This question was previously asked in
UGC NET 2023 Home Science Question Paper (13-Dec-2023) (Shift 1)
The correct answer is

The proper installation of home smoke detectors

The correct answer is The proper installation of home smoke detectors.

To identify the "main focus" of a passage, we look for the single idea that organises the greatest part of the text — the theme to which most sentences contribute. Here, the passage is built around practical guidance on where and how smoke detectors should be installed in a home: which rooms and floors to cover, the correct positions on walls and ceilings, and the places to avoid, such as near windows, in kitchens or in corners. Because the bulk of the passage develops this installation guidance, it is the central focus.

The mention of how firefighters carry out their responsibilities is only a supporting detail; firefighters appear briefly as advocates of fire safety and do not organise the passage.

The point about dead-air space on walls and ceilings is a narrow sub-detail explaining why detectors should not sit in corners — one specific reason within the wider installation discussion, not the overall theme.

The idea that smoke detectors prevent fires is factually off: detectors detect fires and warn occupants; they do not stop fires from starting, so this cannot be the passage's main point.

Hence the answer is the proper installation of home smoke detectors.

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