Build a Sentence

You arrange words or phrases into a complete, grammatical sentence or question. The context helps determine the intended meaning and order.
Twenty-three minutes covers this and both writing tasks, so these are meant to be quick.
Read the finished sentence once, slowly. Most errors here are invisible on the first look and obvious on the second.

A comma cannot rescue a sentence whose verb has wandered off.

Articles, the hardest thing in English for a Chinese speaker

Chinese has no articles, so a, an, the and no article at all are four choices where your first language offers none.
A new, non-specific singular count noun usually takes a/an; a specific one can take the. I bought a book. The book was excellent. This is a useful pattern, not a rule for every first mention.
Uncountable nouns such as information and advice do not take a/an or an ordinary plural. They can take the when specific: the information in your email.

Practice

Which is correct?

The verb must agree with its subject, not with the nearest noun: the list of names is long.
Each, every and everyone take a singular verb.
Use time expressions to build the timeline. Tense may change for a reason: She said yesterday that the lab is open today.

Practice

Complete: 'The list of participants ___ on my desk.'

A verb often owns its preposition: depend on, consist of, result in, participate in, apply for.
Learn the verb and the preposition as one item, the way you learn a single word.
Some verbs take none at all: discuss the problem, not discuss about the problem.

Practice

Complete: 'The result depends ___ the temperature.'

In a basic statement with an object, look for subject–verb–object. A question may place an auxiliary before the subject: Does she work late? Adverbs of frequency often come before the main verb: She often works late.
Never Although … but … or Because … so … — English uses one, not both.
Task description checked on 23 September 2026: ETS TOEFL iBT Writing section.