Which of the following is the best summary of the passage? use the notes provided to guide you. main idea: the greatest gift the sumerians gave the world was the invention of writing. notes: sumerians invented writing needed to keep records called cuneiform drew on clay tablets used shapes sumerians the greatest gift the sumerians gave the world was the invention of writing. the sumerians were a wealthy people. they needed some way to keep track of what they owned. they began drawing pictures. they used a reed as a pen. they drew on soft pieces of clay. the soft clay was then dried in the sun. the tablet became a permanent record. later, the sumerian drawings changed into wedge-shaped symbols. this kind of writing is called cuneiform. by putting symbols together, the sumerians could write entire sentences.