I read a paragraph from a textbook as below:
What do proverbs tell us? Proverbs are used everywhere in the world. If you can understand a culture’s proverbs, you can better understand the culture itself. There are many different ways that we use proverbs in daily life. Here are some examples of what proverbs can do:
*Give advice. *Give a warning. *Teach a lesson. *Express a common truth.
I’d like to know the sentence “If you can understand a culture’s proverbs, you can better understand the culture itself” is a supporting idea?
And the sentence “There are many different ways that we use proverbs in daily life” is the main idea?
Thank you!!!
Hi, I’d say it’s the other way around. They say proverbs help you understand the native speakers’ culture better if you take a look at proverbs. In the following phrases, the author explains the concept of a proverb a little bit, presumable in a following paragraph they would give some examples of proverbs that are revealing something about the language’s cultural background. This supports the main idea they presented in the beginning.
Hope this helps 
PS: It’s true. In my first language for example (German), you will find many proverbs that reflect daily life in the area from some centuries ago. Most are of unknown origin, some originate in the specific language of a trade, some were first coined in dramas, songs, or novels…
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