Build a Sentence 3 — inversion and modifiers (B2–C1)

Build a Sentence fills ten of the twelve items in the writing section of the TOEFL iBT® test since the January 2026 revision. The task spans the whole range from beginner to advanced; this third set works at the upper end, roughly B2 to C1, where word order carries emphasis and meaning, not only grammar.

Each item starts from an everyday exchange, such as a friend asking about a flight, a coworker asking about a dinner party, or a manager asking who can use some software, and the pieces make up your reply.

Most of the twelve items train inversion: the auxiliary moving in front of the subject after a fronted "never", "not until...", "hardly... when", "only after...", "rarely" and "little", and in the conditional that drops "if" ("Had I known..."). The others train modifiers and focus: a participle phrase placed so it describes the right noun, an opening phrase followed by the person who actually did the action, a "what" cleft sentence, and the position of "only".

Two items are harder still: more than one ordering is grammatical, but only one says the sensible thing in the situation. "Only Dana can use the software" and "Dana can only use the software" are both correct English, and only the first tells the manager that nobody else has access. In the same way, a relative clause should carry what the listener already knows, and the main clause should carry the new information they asked for.

Every explanation states the rule, and says what is wrong with each other ordering, or what it would mean instead.

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.

• Invert the auxiliary and subject after a fronted negative adverbial (never, not until, hardly, only after, rarely, little)
• Drop "if" from a past conditional by inverting "had"
• Place a participle phrase so it describes the right noun, and avoid a dangling modifier
• Build a "what" cleft sentence
• Choose the position of "only" that says what the situation requires
• Choose between two grammatical orderings by what the listener already knows

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.