Build a Sentence 1 — everyday word order (A2–B1)

Build a Sentence is the task that fills ten of the twelve items in the writing section of the TOEFL iBT® test since the January 2026 revision. You get the pieces of one sentence, in everyday language, and you put them in order so the result is grammatical and says something sensible. Each item is worth one point and is scored by machine, so there is no partial credit for a nearly right order.

This first set works at the lower end of the task's range, roughly A2 to B1. Every item opens with a short everyday situation, such as a coworker asking how you get to work, a friend asking where you stayed on vacation, or a roommate suggesting a swim, and the pieces make up your reply or your question.

The twelve items cover the word-order patterns that trip up otherwise fluent writers: where a frequency adverb goes with an ordinary verb, with "be" and with an auxiliary; why no adverb may stand between a verb and its object; the order of several adjectives before a noun (opinion, size, age, color, origin, material); "enough" after an adjective; direct questions with a question word; a simple indirect question after "Do you know"; a pronoun inside a phrasal verb ("turn it down"); and a preposition left at the end of a question ("Who are you waiting for?").

Every wrong option is a real ordering error of the kind the task is built to catch, never a spelling slip. The explanation for each item states the rule in one sentence, then says what goes wrong in each of the other three orderings.

On test day you put the given pieces into place yourself. Here you see the pieces and four complete orderings, and you choose the one that works. Recognizing a correct sentence is easier than assembling it, so read the context and the pieces first, build the sentence in your head, and only then look at the options. The material also comes with flashcards that restate the rules in one line each, so you can review them away from the questions. The quiz and the flashcards are the two formats offered.

Every sentence and item here is written by Zestly. No ETS test material is reproduced, and facts about the test format are paraphrased from the published specification rather than copied from it. TOEFL iBT is a registered trademark of ETS; this material is not affiliated with or endorsed by ETS.

• Place a frequency adverb correctly with an ordinary verb, with "be" and with an auxiliary
• Keep a verb and its direct object together, with manner adverbs after the object
• Order several adjectives before a noun: opinion, size, age, color, origin, material
• Put "enough" after an adjective
• Build direct questions with a question word and simple indirect questions after "Do you know"
• Place a pronoun object inside a separable phrasal verb and a preposition at the end of a question

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the ETS description of the Build a Sentence task in the TOEFL iBT specification revised in January 2026.