Can someone help me fix this error?

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1 
// build.gradle for The Cursed Creaking Mod (for NeoForge 1.21)

// Basic project setup
plugins {
    id 'java'
    // 'net.neoforged.moddev' is applied here. Its version is managed in settings.gradle.
    id 'net.neoforged.moddev'
    id 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow' version '8.1.1'
}

group = 'net.yourcompany.cursedcreaking'
version = '1.0.0'
java.toolchain.languageVersion = JavaLanguageVersion.of(17)

// NeoForge/ModDev configuration (Corrected from 'minecraft' to 'neoforge')
minecraft { // THIS IS THE CORRECT BLOCK NAME for NeoForge 1.21+
    version = "1.21-21.0.0-beta" // NeoForge version for Minecraft 1.21
    // mappings channel: "official", version: "1.21" // Mappings are typically set by the plugin itself or a separate block like 'parchment'

    runs {
        client {
            client() // Configures a client run
            workingDirectory project.file('run')
            property 'neoforge.logging.console.level', 'debug'
        }
        server {
            server() // Configures a server run
            workingDirectory project.file('run_server')
            property 'neoforge.logging.console.level', 'debug'
            args '--nogui'
        }
        data { // Data generation run configuration
            data() // Configures a data generation run
            // Specify the modid for data generation, where to output the resulting resource, and where to look for existing resources.
            programArguments.addAll '--mod', 'cursedcreaking', '--all', '--output', file('src/generated/resources/').getAbsolutePath(), '--existing', file('src/main/resources/').getAbsolutePath()
            systemProperty 'neoforge.logging.console.level', 'debug'
        }
    }
}

// Repositories where Gradle can find necessary libraries
repositories {
    mavenCentral() // Standard Maven repository
    maven {
        url "https://maven.neoforged.net/releases" // NeoForge's official Maven repository for core libraries
    }
    maven {
        url "https://repo.spongepowered.org/maven" // Maven repository for the mixin library
    }
}

// Define external dependencies for your mod
dependencies {
    // This is the core NeoForge dependency, essential for modding Minecraft
    // This version must match the 'neoforge.version' in the 'neoforge' block above.
    implementation "net.neoforged:neoforge:${neoforge.version}"

    // Dependency for IOUtils used in CursedCreakingModel.java
    implementation 'org.apache.commons:commons-io:1.3.2'
}

// Configure the ShadowJar plugin for creating a fat JAR (if needed for dependencies)
shadowJar {
    archiveClassifier.set('dev') // Classifier for the development JAR
}

// Ensure that the 'jar' task creates a distributable JAR
jar {
    manifest {
        attributes([
                "Specification-Title": project.name,
                "Specification-Vendor": "Your Company",
                "Specification-Version": "1",
                "Implementation-Title": project.name,
                "Implementation-Version": version,
                "Implementation-Vendor": "Your Company",
                "FMLModType": "GAMELIBRARY",
                "NeoForge-Mod-Container": "net.yourcompany.cursedcreaking.CursedCreakingMod"
        ])
    }
}

// Tasks to build the mod and prepare for launch
tasks.jar.finalizedBy('reobfJar')
tasks.withType(JavaCompile).configureEach {
    options.encoding = 'UTF-8'
}

shows this error

* Could not find method minecraft() for arguments [build_5kr751j262vwv8ie8i5iazhjg$_run_closure1@47eb072b] on root project 'the_cursed_creaking' of type org.gradle.api.Project
2

It means “something” within the minecraft { ... } block is wrong.
Unfortunately you often do not get a better error if you mess up the syntax while using Groovy DSL.

I strongly recommend switching to Kotlin DSL. By now it is the default DSL, you immediately get type-safe build scripts, actually helpful error messages if you mess up the syntax like here, and amazingly better IDE support if you use a good IDE like IntelliJ IDEA or Android Studio.

To fix it without switching the DSL, you either need to comment out random lines and see what helps, then fix what it should have done, it comment out everything in the block and comment stuff in until it breaks.