★ 文の組み立て · mini course

Solve the ★ question every time

Four blanks, four pieces, one star. Learn the method once, then practise it on ten questions at your level, each a little harder than the last.

N5At N5 the pieces are short and the sentences simple. Two habits solve almost every one: start from the end, and remember that describers go right before their noun.10 questions →N4N4 adds grammar frames — 〜ために, 〜ながら, 〜てもらう, 〜ように — and longer describing clauses. Lock the frame first, then place the rest.10 questions →N3N3 sentences have two clauses and a frame that spans them — 〜ても, 〜うちに, 〜わけではない. Find the frame's two halves first; everything else hangs between them.10 questions →N2At N2 most ★ questions hinge on one compound expression — 〜にかかわらず, 〜をきっかけに, 〜に先立って. Recognise the expression and the rest is ordinary word order.10 questions →N1N1 expressions are rarer, and each one has a fixed partner — 〜ないことには needs a negative ending, Nならではの needs a noun after it. Know the partner and the order follows.10 questions →

The method, in seven tips

  1. Build the whole sentence first. Never try to guess the ★ directly. Put all four pieces in order, read the full sentence back, and only then look at which piece sits on the ★.
  2. Start from the end. The words after the last blank are fixed. Ask what they need right before them: a verb wants its object (〜を), です wants a noun or adjective, ください wants a て-form.
  3. Describers sit right before what they describe. In Japanese, anything that describes a noun comes in front of it — adjectives, の-phrases, and whole plain-form clauses. So a plain verb piece is usually followed directly by a noun piece.
  4. Particles point forward. A piece that ends in a particle (は, が, を, に, で, と…) needs something after it. A piece with no particle usually ends a phrase. Use this to pair pieces up.
  5. Adverbs go before the verb they change. Words like とても, まだ, 早く, 一気に describe how something is done, so they sit somewhere before their verb or adjective — usually right before it.
  6. Keep fixed patterns together. Grammar patterns arrive in pieces but always in the same order: 〜てから, 〜ために, 〜ようになる, 〜にかかわらず. Spot the frame, lock those pieces together, and the rest falls into place.
  7. Reasons and conditions come first. A clause ending in ので, から, ば, たら, ても or ものの sets the scene, so it comes before the main clause. The main verb is always last.
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