Lesson 14 of 41 in the Test Ninjas TOEFL course: Listen and Choose a Response, Listening. This lesson is about the lines in Listen and Choose a Response that have no question word: requests, offers, suggestions, problem reports, complaints, worries and “I thought…” statements.
Test Ninjas Research · Updated October 1, 2026
Lesson at a glance
Detail
This lesson
Module
Listen and Choose a Response (Listening)
English focus
Requests (Could you…, Would you mind…), suggestions, complaints, reassurance and polite refusals
Task skill
Replying to a statement that has no question word
Time
About 55 minutes
Access
Included in the TOEFL plan
What this lesson teaches
This lesson is about the lines in Listen and Choose a Response that have no question word: requests, offers, suggestions, problem reports, complaints, worries and “I thought…” statements.
You’ll learn the frames that signal each one, how people really reply to them (including polite ways to say no), and how to choose the reply that does the job the speaker needs, even when it shares no words with what you heard.
By the end of the lesson, you can
Recognize requests, offers and suggestions (Could you…, Would you mind + -ing, Want me to…?, Why don’t we…, How about + -ing) and reply naturally, including Not at all to Would you mind and a polite no with a reason.
Recognize what a statement is doing (reporting a problem, complaining, showing a belief that turned out wrong, or sharing a worry) and know the reply that fits: a fix, an explanation or a question back, a correction, or reassurance.
In Listen and Choose a Response, name what the speaker is doing, predict the kind of reply, and choose the reply that does that job, even when it shares no words with the speaker.
What’s inside
Around the 3 teaching cycles below, the lesson opens with a quick check and closes with applied practice, a Check and a debrief. How every course lesson is built.
Teaching cycles in lesson 14
Cycle
Focus
What it teaches
Drills
Cycle 1
English
Requests, offers and suggestions
7
Cycle 2
English
Statements that need a reply
7
Cycle 3
Task skill
Replying when there is no question word
7
Word bank
The 10 words and phrases this lesson teaches. They come from the real course questions you practice on in the Apply step, so you meet each one again in context.
ripe adjective
ready to be eaten
These bananas won’t be ripe until the weekend.
Goes with:
ripe bananas
Word family:
ripen (verb); unripe (adjective); ripeness (noun)
grab verb
to get or take something quickly
Let’s grab a quick lunch before the lab.
Goes with:
grab a coffee / grab a seat
Word family:
grabbed (past); grab (noun: make a grab for)
in the shop phrase
being repaired
My laptop’s in the shop until Thursday, so I’m using the library computers.
Goes with:
my car’s in the shop
Word family:
at the repair shop (phrase); being repaired (phrase)
swap verb
to exchange one thing for another
Could we swap shifts? I have a dentist appointment on Friday.
Goes with:
swap seats / swap shifts
Word family:
swap (noun: a swap); swapped (past)
skip verb
to not do something you usually do; also, to jump past part of something
If you skip breakfast, you’ll be hungry by ten. The lecture video skipped ahead, so I missed the last example.
Goes with:
skip a class / skip lunch; a recording skips ahead (jumps forward)