Sentence Reordering and Structural Control
What this domain tests
Sentence-reordering items ask you to arrange given words or phrases into a correct English sentence. Miyagi items test clause structure, relative clauses, infinitives, prepositional phrases, and adverb placement. The mark depends on both grammar and natural meaning.
Core rules
- Find the main subject and verb first. Everything else attaches to them.
- Identify clause markers: that, which, who, when, if, because. A relative clause usually follows the noun it describes.
- Keep phrasal verbs together: look after, turn off, pick up.
- Place prepositional phrases near the word they modify, but follow natural English order: subject + verb + object + place + time.
- Check subject–verb agreement after you build the sentence.
- Read the finished sentence aloud; if it sounds like Japanese word order, rebuild it.
Worked example
Words: the / book / that / I / bought / yesterday / was / interesting Reasoning: The book is the subject. was is the main verb. that I bought yesterday describes the book and must sit after it. interesting follows was as a complement. Result: The book that I bought yesterday was interesting. Do not write The book was interesting that I bought yesterday; the relative clause is separated from its noun.
Traps that cost marks
- Splitting a relative clause from its noun.
- Putting the time expression before the object when English prefers it later.
- Forgetting the capital letter and final period in a written answer.
- Using that after a comma in a non-defining clause.
- Reordering by translating each Japanese word rather than by English sentence structure.