TOEFL Reference and Sentence Simplification

TOEFL Reading dropped Reference and Sentence Simplification as named question types. The current test specification names three Reading tasks instead: Complete the Words, Read in Daily Life, and Read an Academic Passage, a list confirmed on the official Reading content page. For full detail on how they work, read our guide to the two new Reading tasks before your exam. Recognizing what a pronoun points back to still appears in the spec, listed as a Basic A1 to A2 reading evidence statement under the Reading claim, which covers all three Reading tasks. Restating a complex sentence without losing its meaning does not appear anywhere in the current spec, under any name.

This guide treats Reference and Sentence Simplification as two practice skills, not two official ETS categories, so you build each one on its own. It covers what each skill checks, original example stems, a strategy for tracing antecedents across a passage, and a strategy for spotting the choice which changes a sentence’s meaning.

What Each Skill Tests

The two skills draw on the same academic passage but check different reading moves. Reading now holds 50 items worth 35 raw points, with a maximum of 1 point per scored item, split across an 18 to 21 minute adaptive router plus a 9 minute module, per the 2026 test blueprint, roughly 27 to 30 minutes total.

Reference: what the pronoun points back to

A Reference question asks you to identify the exact noun or idea a pronoun or phrase points back to, inside the sentences surrounding it in a passage. ETS keeps this skill on the books as a Basic A1 to A2 reading evidence statement under the Reading claim, which spans all three Reading tasks, rather than a scored question format on its own. The blueprint rates the academic reading skill at B1 to C1 and above, while the evidence statement sits in the Basic A1 to A2 band, so the referent skill is not tied to one task. We keep Reference as a separate practice drill on the site, since tracing pronouns cleanly is a skill worth building on its own before it shows up folded into a longer academic passage item.

Sentence Simplification: restating without losing meaning

A Sentence Simplification question asks you to identify the restatement of a complex sentence which keeps its full meaning, without dropping a detail, adding a claim the sentence never made, or reversing a relationship the sentence stated. ETS's current spec does not list this format under any name, official or otherwise, inside Read an Academic Passage or anywhere else in the Reading section. We keep the drill on the site as a paraphrase-and-comprehension exercise for reading dense academic sentences, even though ETS does not score it as a separate format.

Example Question Stems

ETS does not publish current stems under either label, since neither exists as a named format in the 2026 spec. The stems below are original phrasing written for this guide, not quoted from an official passage.

Reference stems

Reference stems point at a specific pronoun or phrase inside the passage.

• The word "it" in paragraph 2 refers to which of the following?
• What does the pronoun "they" refer to in the highlighted sentence?
• The phrase "this outcome" in paragraph 3 refers to which of the following?
• Which of the following does the word "these" refer to in the passage?

Sentence Simplification stems

Sentence Simplification stems ask for the restatement holding the full meaning of the highlighted sentence.

• Which of the following best restates the highlighted sentence?
• Which choice keeps the essential information in the highlighted sentence?
• The highlighted sentence states which of the following?
• Which sentence expresses the meaning of the highlighted sentence without leaving out important information?

Strategy: Trace the Antecedent

Reference items reward a fixed search order over a guess.

Work backward from the pronoun

Run these four steps in order on every Reference item, and stop guessing from memory.

1. Locate the highlighted pronoun or phrase before reading anything else.
2. Read the sentences before it, not after it, since an antecedent almost always sits earlier in the passage.
3. Swap each candidate noun into the sentence in place of the pronoun and read the result in your head.
4. Match number and category: a plural pronoun needs a plural antecedent, and a pronoun standing in for an idea needs an idea, not a single object.

Strategy: Spot the Meaning Change

Sentence Simplification wrong answers change the sentence in one of four predictable ways.

• Dropped detail: the restatement removes a condition, cause, or qualifier the original sentence stated.
• Added detail: the restatement adds a claim the original sentence never made.
• Reversed relationship: the restatement flips cause and effect, or turns an increase into a decrease.
• Changed scope: the restatement widens or narrows who or what the sentence describes.

Check the highlighted sentence twice

Read the highlighted sentence twice before reading a single option, once for its main claim and once for every qualifier attached to it. A restatement dropping one qualifying word, such as most, often, or only, changes the sentence’s meaning even when every other word matches.

Build the Skill With Practice

Tracing antecedents and spotting meaning changes both improve through repetition, not a single read of a rule. Our Reference drill runs 3 difficulty levels with 10 sets each, and our Sentence Simplification drill matches it set for set, with an explanation on every answer, free and with no signup required. Pair them with our TOEFL Reading section guide to see where these skills sit inside the full section timing.

Start with the easy level of each drill, then move up once you clear a level without rereading the passage twice. Both drills sit alongside our full TOEFL practice tests on the TOEFL exam page.

Sources

• ETS: TOEFL iBT Test 2026 Update, Test Blueprint and Specifications
• ETS: TOEFL iBT Test Content