Build a Sentence — six original reorder drills
Build a sentence by finding its spine
ETS describes Build a Sentence as arranging words or phrases into a complete, grammatical sentence or question. The six original campus sentences below let you practise that skill with reorder cards. They are site practice, not ETS questions, and their card layout may differ from the test screen.
First find a subject and a finite verb. In The registrar / sent / the revised timetable / to every student, the person doing the action is the registrar and the past-tense verb is sent. The thing sent follows the verb; the recipient phrase follows the thing. Reading isolated cards in their shuffled order will not reveal this structure.
Build the shortest grammatical core first: The registrar sent the timetable. Then attach details without separating a verb from what it needs.
If the verb goes missing, the sentence may need a search party.
Arrange the cards into one complete sentence about a campus timetable.
The registrar is the subject; sent is the verb; the revised timetable is the object; the final phrase names the recipients.
Keep a dependent clause attached to its main clause
Although the library was closed sets up a contrast, but it cannot finish a sentence on its own. The main clause must say what happened despite the closure: the return box remained available outside. A comma after the opening clause helps show the boundary.
An if clause works similarly. If the laboratory reopens tomorrow describes a condition. The main clause supplies the consequence: the class will meet there. Do not mistake the time word tomorrow for a reason to put will in both clauses; the ordinary future condition is if + present, then will + verb.
Arrange the contrast clause and the main clause.
Although creates an incomplete contrast. The return box remained available outside supplies the main claim despite the closure.
Arrange a possible future condition and its result.
The if-clause states the condition in the present tense; the main clause uses will meet for the consequence.
A question can contain a statement-order clause
Compare When does the workshop begin? with Could you tell me when the workshop begins? The whole second sentence is a question, so Could you comes first. Inside it, when the workshop begins has statement order: the workshop begins, not does the workshop begin. The outer question mark does not turn every clause inside it into a question.
This matters when a speaker asks politely for information. Find the question's outer frame, then place the embedded clause inside it. Try reading the completed sentence aloud; an extra does often sounds wrong once the full sentence is assembled.
Arrange a polite question with an embedded clause.
Could you is the outer question. Inside it, when the workshop begins uses statement order, with no extra does.
Do not let a description steal the verb
In The samples that were collected yesterday are stored in a locked cabinet, the subject is the samples. That were collected yesterday identifies which samples; it is a relative clause inside the subject phrase. The main verb is are stored. The nearby past verb were collected belongs to the description, so it does not force the main verb into the past tense.
The same check helps with agreement. In The list of students is ready, list controls is, even though students is closer to the verb. Ask which noun the sentence makes its main claim about.
Arrange a sentence whose subject contains a relative clause.
That were collected yesterday modifies samples. The main claim is that the samples are stored in a locked cabinet.
Make the final read a meaning check
When the cards look right, read the whole sentence once for a sensible timeline and once for punctuation. The tutor asked whether the draft had been submitted reports a question, but it is itself a statement, so it ends with a period. Had been submitted places the possible submission before the tutor's past request.
For each exercise, identify the core, add clauses and details, then read the completed line as one piece of English. The exercise checker expects the intended order of the cards; a well-formed sentence you can justify is more valuable than a lucky shuffle.
Task description checked on 23 September 2026: ETS TOEFL iBT Writing section.
Arrange the report of a tutor's question.
This is a statement reporting a question, so it ends with a period. Had been submitted locates the possible action before the asking.