LÍNGUA INGLESA CONCEITOS BÁSICOS

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LÍNGUA INGLESA – ESTRUTURA BÁSICA
Aula 1: O Papel do Professor de Inglês
‘You can have the best curriculum, the best infrastructure, and the best policies, but if you don’t have good teachers then everything is lost…We provide our teachers with 100 hours of professional development each year…If you do not have inspired teachers, how can you have inspired students?’
Singapore Education Official, quoted in Barber and Mourshed
Each and every day of our lives we deal with the necessity of making decisions in face of different situations involving a huge spectrum of consequences. From the simple “What should I dress today?” to the complex and torturing “What will I do with my future?”, “What career do I want to pursue?”, questions and decisions to make lead us try to foresee reality in future in order to choose the alternative the best suits us. We are constantly exposed to situations that, like crossroads, puzzle us. Situations in which many different plaques indicate many different places to go.
1 - INDIVIDUALS, CHOICES AND SOCIETY
Actually, this is not different when time to choose a profession comes urging for a decision.
How to find a way out when there are so many options? How can one be sure about any kind of choice when there is so much to risk? Well, actually there is no safe choice, there is no infallible answer…However, it is not an impossible task to be accomplished. We have all done that, haven’t we?
We are here, coping to turn into reality a foreseen future, an intended career, a positive lifetime estimative. Some might have reached their goals and are here improving their already tested and well succeeded plans. We never know!
1 - INDIVIDUALS, CHOICES AND SOCIETY
Nevertheless, we have all gone through a common logical process: to make more certain as can be choice we must know our chances. We have surely explored conditions and tested personal theories. When facing the moment in which we were required to answer that childish question (What am I going to be when I grow up?), that is exactly what we do.  
1 - INDIVIDUALS, CHOICES AND SOCIETY
To start with, have you ever thought of what it is to be a teacher? What kind of role teachers play in society? Well, time has come to do it. To begin our discussions, let us focus on ourselves – teachers.  Let us take a look at the dictionary  for few words:
TO TEACH: 
1- to give (someone) training or lessons in (a particular subject, how to do something, etc.); pass on knowledge or skill (to): She teaches English to foreign students. 
2- to (try to) make known and accepted: Christianity teaches humility. 
3- to show (someone) the bad results of doing something, so that they will not do it again: That will teach you to go out without an umbrella.(…)
USAGE: 
Compare with teach, instruct, train, and coach. Teach is the general world for helping a person or group of people to learn something. If you instruct (rather formal) a person or a group of people you pass on knowledge to them, (…). You can train a person or a group of people up to a necessary level in a particular skill or profession, (…). You can coach a person or a group of people, often outside the ordinary educational system, and often for a particular examination (…). 
Also: “TEACHER: a person who teaches, esp. as a profession.”
1 - INDIVIDUALS, CHOICES AND SOCIETY
In reality, the fact that teachers help people to move towards their improvement and their intellectuality turns out to be a wider process; a process that exceeds the multiple classrooms around the world. Wise men have been telling over the years that knowledge is the true alchemy. Teachers and students, working together, are the real alchemist that can change crude material into gold valuable goods: ignorance X knowledge.
Thinking individuals help communities, societies and countries to evolve.  History has shown us this. Reality confirms. Who could, a hundred years ago, imagine how far we would come in terms of technology and research and human refinement. It started somewhere. And this original place is, with no doubts, in each and every classroom of each and every discipline.
Evidence from around the world shows us that the most important factor in determining the effectiveness of a school system is the quality of its teachers. The best education systems draw their teachers from the most academically able, and select them carefully to ensure that they are taking only those people who combine the right personal and intellectual qualities. These systems train their teachers rigorously at the outset, focusing particularly on the practical teaching skills they will need. At each stage of their career, and especially as they move into leadership positions, teachers in the highest performing systems receive further focused training and development.
In relation to the assertive quotation above another important one can be added:
 
In the highest performing countries, teachers and teaching are held in the highest esteem. Rightly so, because all the evidence shows that good teachers make a profound difference. Studies in the United States have shown that an individual pupil taught for three consecutive years by a teacher in the top ten percent of performance can make as much as two years more progress than a pupil taught for the same period by a teacher in the bottom ten percent of performance.
However, let us be more specific. Let us focus on the object of our future classes and discussions. The unknown to be conquered in what concerns to us is a foreign idiom. In an ever growing boundless world, where people deal with each other in real time and being thousands of kilometers apart in a daily basis, there must be a shared mean of communication. This link is English. Commercially, culturally, politically, summits are held in English. Contracts in English are signed all over the world. Lectures and academic content are shared in English. Also in English, researchers bring better days to humanity.
For those who speak English, and speak it well, they may never even realize that ESL (English as a second language) exists. For those who do not speak English, or have issues speaking English, however, an ESL education is the only thing that can help keep them up to speed in two ways; it’s like normal schooling, but with an emphasis on learning English.
Learning multiple languages is important, and it does not matter where in the world you are. One language that is incredibly important to learn, however, is English. While this might seem like an elitist point of view, it actually isn’t; because of the number and power of the countries that do speak English, English has become the language that is the “international business language”. Because of the importance of business in our society, English has become incredibly important to learn.
ESL gives those who are learning English as a new language. They are learning the basics of whatever level of schooling they are at, while learning English. While this is harder and more challenging for these students, it’s incredibly important for them. ESL is important as it is important to give all students an opportunity to learn, even if they do not have a complete grasp on the English language. 
http://www.newyorkschools.com/articles/the-importance-of-esl-education.html 
If you've studied English or another foreign language as a classroom subject, chances are good that you learned grammar from a traditional perspective. You memorized the peculiarities of a given language and your teachers corrected you when you said things the wrong way. This point of view was tied to the memorization of rules as well as to literature and the arts. Its tendency to tell learners and speakers what ought to be said has earned it the moniker prescriptive grammar.
There is another perspective. You might instead choose to learn the fundamentals of grammar and use them to describe how languages work. Instead of telling native speakers how to speak their language, this perspective seeks to understandhow native speakers actually use their language. This point of view is tied to analysis, the deduction of and application of rules, as well as to social sciences and the speech of native speakers.
It takes the modern linguistic form of descriptive and generative grammar. Since most students learn another language with the express aim of communicating with speakers of that language, learners may find this perspective clearer and more in line with common sense.
In this course, we will study how languages build their words. We will explore what linguists call morphology, which is another way of talking about the grammar of words and parts of words. The first lesson will introduce the basic concepts that allow languages to build words. Subsequent lessons will examine individual parts of speech, the grammatical categories we may use to sort words.
The final lesson discusses features that emerge only when we consider relations between words. Along the way, you will work with a variety of languages. You will have the chance to sharpen your linguistic senses to analyze the pieces and functions of words in any language clearly and efficiently.
2 - Introduction to Morphology
In conclusion to what has just been said:
1 SENTENCE = 18 WORDS
1 WORD = Morphemes and allomorphs
Morphology, somehow, leads us, language students, to dissect words layer by layer to discover what is underneath.  
 "The term 'morphology' has been taken over from biology where it is used to denote the study of the forms of plants and animals. . . . It was first used for linguistic purposes in 1859 by the German linguist August Schleicher (Salmon 2000), to refer to the study of the form of words. In present-day linguistics, the term 'morphology' refers to the study of the internal structure of words, and of the systematic form-meaning correspondences between words. . . .”
"The notion 'systematic' in the definition of morphology given above is important. For instance, we might observe a form difference and a corresponding meaning difference between the English noun ear and the verb hear. However, this pattern is not systematic: there are no similar word pairs, and we cannot form new English verbs by adding h- to a noun."
(Geert E. Booij. The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007)
 Also:
"For English, [morphology] means devising ways of describing the properties of such disparate items as a, horse, took, indescribable, washing machine, and antidisestablishmentarianism. A widely recognized approach divides the field into two domains: lexical or derivational morphology studies the way in which new items of vocabulary can be built up out of combinations of elements (as in the case of in-describ-able); inflectional morphology studies the ways words vary in their form in order to express a grammatical contrast (as in the case of horses, where the ending marks plurality)."
(David Crystal. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003.)
Every constituent of a sentence consists of words which are traditionally called parts of speech. Each word develops a singular role in a sentence and in communicative process as well. From now on, we will dedicate ours studies to the meticulous work of dissecting them and understanding their behavior.
Aula 2: Estudos de Sintaxe - Sintaxe da Língua Inglesa 
Starting the discussion – Morphology and Syntax concepts:
When someone decides to dedicate their time and concentration to study and understand language in its multiple manifestations – language and literature – it has to be well done. Actually any field of knowledge that is chosen to turn into one’s expertise and means of life has to be taken into integral possession. It could not be different to us. On the other hand it is quite appropriate to remember that pursued possession and expertise is not something that instantly occurs. Step by step we move towards a global objective so we can finally feel we dominate terms, concepts and contents.
In the previous class we pointed out some aspects, terms, and concepts that were just the tip of a gigantic iceberg ready to be explored in the lessons and terms to come. Being so, to start exploring it, let us recall the last points of our previous discussion and talk a little bit more about Morphology.
For definition, morphology can be understood as the identification, analysis and description of the structure of morphemes appearing in different idioms and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech. 
This analysis and description developed throughout centuries results in a meticulous method for classifying languages according to the ways morphemes are used in each language.
The resulting method goes from the analytic posture, used only with isolated morphemes, through the agglutinative process. 
Each revealing the essence of words that will perform a complex role when inserted in sentences.
The concept of morpheme – the minimal unit of form and meaning – arises naturally in the analysis of every language. The concept of word is trickier. Words can be made up of several morphemes and may include several other words. It is easy to find cases where a particular sequence of elements might arguably be considered either a word or a phrase. 
Since we brought up the discussion about the limits and about the plausible possibility of considering a word a phrase it is definitely time to bring some light to these and to other relevant concepts.
Would you promptly define WORD? Well! Let us see if we all agree!
A word, in any language, is the smallest free form that may be pronounced in isolation with semantic (in relation to its meaning) or pragmatic content (with literal or practical meaning). This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own. A word may consist of a single morpheme – Yeah!, red, quick, run, expect, or several - rocks, redness, quickly, running, unexpected, whereas a morpheme may not be able to stand on its own as a word.
Words frequently consist in more complex forms which will typically include a root  and one or more affixes - red-ness - or more than one root in a compound (black-board, rat-race). Words can be put together to build larger elements of language, such as phrases, clauses, and sentences.
The term word may refer to a spoken word or to a written word, or sometimes to the abstract concept behind either. The spoken ones are made up of units of sound called phonemes, and written words of symbols called graphemes, such as the letters of English. What about phrase? What is the concept of phrase?
Having reached a consensus about the ideas of WORDS and PHRASES, there are still two terms to be discussed – CLAUSE and SENTENCE.
According to the Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, a clause is a group of words containing a subject and verb, usually forming part of a compound or complex sentence.
It's not a very easy thing to define a sentence. Many grammarians have tried but there is some disagreement about precisely what a sentence is. A sentence is the written expression of a complete thought. In most sentences the reader is given one complete piece of information. This unit teaches you how sentences work and how to write a good sentence.
A sentence needs to contain the following:
• a capital letter at the beginning and a full stop at the end;
• a subject (person / people or thing(s)) that is / are doing something);
• a verb (action or doing word).
The largest independent unit of grammar: it begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark or exclamation mark. See the examples:
• Some students like to study in the mornings.
• I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English.  
• When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page.
At this point differentiations were made, concepts were raised and discussed.It allows us to move on to the next stages initially proposed in this class.
2. Syntactic Basics – Subject and Predicate
Being natural born social individuals that tend to live in groups in which a web of relationships, occurring in many different levels, secure and strong knots are the guarantee of concord and harmony. The primary way of keeping these system functioning is the human capacity of interacting and reaching agreement using a skill ruled by intelligence – the communicative skill.
That usage of intellectual features to convey and share information is what places us in an upper landing when in comparison with animals. The communication process between parts is complete once the receiver has understood the message of the sender. The effectiveness of communications depends on factors as domain of the linguistic code – respective idioms – and domain of linguistic structures.
When we think of getting to know words and their meanings in this or that specific idiom we can always recourse to a dictionary. Far from being a shame or an embarrassment, according popular belief, dictionaries amplify speakers and receivers range of communicative possibilities. On the other hand, to be fully understandable we have to dig into language structures and to appropriate it to develop coherent communicative situations.
All around the world, majority of idioms behave in a similar way and have similar structures. The occurrence of communicative situations in which SUBJECTS an PREDICATE are considerably perceived and to acknowledge them is to begin to understand the way language behave all around the world. Take a look at the image below.
The basic English sentence form is the statement form, the declarative sentence. A well-formed (shapely, studied) declarative sentence must have both a subject, something the statement is about, and a predicate, something that is said about the subject.
A declarative sentence which lacks a subject or predicate is not grammatically complete, and we call it an incomplete sentence or a sentence fragment. There is such a thing as a legitimate use of a sentence fragment–certainly in response to a question – but when in doubt, avoid them. 
Syntactic Basics – Subject and Predicate
Language is a chain system and to cope perfectly with it implies in linking contents and concepts that help you to actually understand it as a whole. Being so, to complement and amplify the notions of subject and predicators it is undoubtedly necessary to understand what VERB TRANSITIVITY is.
As it was said a bit earlier, sentences and clauses have typical elements and these elements make sentences differ. This is related also, and primarily, to the type of verb element. A verb can be TRANSITIVE, INTRANSITIVE. When a verb is transitive it means that it is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects.
See the example below:
• My sister broke the window.
• According to the instructions, we must leave this conditioner in our 
hair for twenty minutes.
• The audience attentively watched 
the latest production of The 
Trojan Women.
Analyzing the given examples we perceive that transitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like in brake, watch and leave etc. Second, it must have an object, something or someone who receives the action of the verb.
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. An intransitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity. Second, it will not have a direct object receiving the action. Take a look at the following example:
My father cried.
We can see in this sentence that there is no word after cried. In other words, there is no need of an object for the verb, so there is no noun to receive the action of the verb. Think about it –what could we say? My father cried something. Is there a noun that we could use after cried? We could probably think of one or two nouns, like tears, or even good-bye, but normally, we do not use the verb cry with an object.
Many verbs have both a transitive and an intransitive function, depending on how they are used. The verb break, for instance, sometimes takes a direct object ("Rihanna breaks my heart") and sometimes does not ("When I hear your name, my heart breaks"). A ditransitive verb is one that takes two complements, a direct object and an indirect object at the same time.
He gave her the letter.
"The letter" is the direct object, what he gave, and "her" is the indirect object, the person he gave it to.
It takes a subject and two objects which refer to a recipient and a theme. According to certain linguistics considerations, these objects may be called direct and indirect, or primary and secondary. This is in contrast to monotransitive verbs, which take only one object, a direct object.
Well! That is how language behaves: everything is linked and lead to a mutual interference.
BIBER, D. CONRAD, S. and LEECH, G. Student grammar of spoken and written English. 10th Ed. Essex: Longman, 2011.
 Aula 3: Sintagmas da Língua Inglesa
As postulated by a wise and rather popular saying the best way of beginning our studies is the first things first method. One of our aims is to recover, understand and keep in mind major concepts that will provide us with notions that are unquestionably useful.
The first concept to be worked is the concept of Linguistics. It is said that when you can define something it undeniably means that it is forever understood and saved in mental archives ready to be retrieved and used whenever it is necessary. Being so, could you all, maintaining your convictions unshaken, define Linguistics?
There was a time when science became an ultimate watershed in human reality, separating points that belonged to conventional wisdom, and therefore questionable, from those that, confirmed by a tireless methodology, were worthy of all credit. It compelled scholars interested in different areas of knowledge to seek scientific validation that could boost their areas of interest to this scientific level of credibility. This scientific way of thinking reality reached the studies and investigations involving speech, idioms scholars and studies.
Linguistics concerns itself with describing and explaining the nature of human language. Fundamental questions include what is universal to language, how language can vary, and how human beings come to know languages.
Linguistic fields can then be broadly divided into those that distinguish themselves by a focus on linguistic structure and grammar, and those that distinguish themselves by the nonlinguistic factors they consider.
Sub-fields of structure-focused linguistics include:
  Phonetics, the study of the physical properties of speech (or signed) production and perception;
• Phonology, the study of sounds (or signs) as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning;
• Morphology, the study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified;
• Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences;
• Semantics, the study of the meaning of words and fixed word combinations, and how these combine to form the logical, meaningful sentences;
• Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used in communicative acts, and the role played by context and nonlinguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning;
• Discourse analysis, the analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed).
As it can be noticed this is an enormously vast theme and there is an inexhaustible source of material for discussion. However, for now the conceptualization presented so far is more than enough to allow us to move forward.
Remember! 
This is English Language – Basic Structures! Everything has its time. As it can be noticed after reading the list that identifies the branches of linguistics, the syntax also born of thisfield of study. A primary definition was offered, but what in fact is the definition of syntax?
2. Syntax – conceptualization
Syntax is the study of how words combine to form meaningful phrases and sentences. There are many approaches to the formal study of syntax, but certain fundaments are common to most.
It is usually assumed that sentences consist of hierarchical structures, which may be represented graphically (as in the figure) and some attempt is made to capture the formal rules of a language, the patterns that govern whether a sentence is grammatical or ungrammatical.
The concepts have been discussed. Being so, we can move on.
After discussing the first concepts and aspects derived from them it would be quite useful to recover some ideas:
• Linguistics is the study of language;
• Linguistics believe that at the abstract level, beneath the surface variation, languages are remarkably similar.
• Syntax is a branch derived from Linguistics that study how words combine to form meaningful phrases and sentences.
A careful reading leads to the conclusion that everything is interconnected in a minor scale and in a major scale as well. Language structure can be considered the same when different idioms are compared. Peculiarities must be respected, though. It could be securely said that Portuguese and English share some comparable aspects. An example of that is the concept of subject that is effective for both languages.
The same can be said about the concept of predicate and other sentence constituents. Constituents tied in a syntactic string forming some larger syntactic unit; a construction – syntagma or syntagm. A sequence of linguistic units which establishes syntagmatic relationship to one another.
This syntactic string is formed by elements that develop specific functions. The functions vary hierarchically and their organization interferes in the sentence logics. Some of them are indispensable; others may be depending on other elements to which they are connect and others perform complementary function. Take a look:
Also, it is important to mention that syntagms – or phrases – can be classified according to the tendency expressed within its structure. In other words, phrases can be arranged in a way that the meaning depends on a word – a key word – also known as the head of the sentence. Look the example:
Ex: Laranja
Ex: Verde
Ex: Roxo
In the sentences -  It is under the box, He hit the ball, Alsatians are big, John waved, and It is raining – we notice that the coherent arrangement of each syntactic unit depends on the verb. It is around it that the meaning of the phrase orbits attracted by its gravitational force. The verb justifies each occurrence. 
A phrase composed of at least one verb and that dependents on that verb it is classified as VERB PHRASE – VP. There are two main types of VPs: finite VPs (the verb is a finite verb) and non-finite VPs (the verb is a non-finite verb).
Defining a Phrase – structure and head 
The previous table is illustrative. We should concentrate on Verb Phrases and use the previous discussion, as well as the table, as a comparative term in order to induce our reasoning to understand how things work as whole.
Time and tense
It is important not to confuse the name of a verb tense with the way we use it to talk about time.
EXAMPLE
For example, a present tense does not always refer to present time:
I hope it  rains  tomorrow.
"rains" is present simple, but it refers here to future time (tomorrow);
Or a past tense does not always refer to past time:
 If I had some money now, I could buy it.
"had" is past simple but it refers here to present time (now).
In abstraction from any given language, we can think of time as a line on which is located, as a continuously moving point, the present moment. Anything ahead of the present moment is in the future, and anything behind it is in the past (…) In relating this REFERENTIAL view of time to the meaning of the verbs, it is useful to reformulate it so that on the semantic level of interpretation as “present” if it exists the present moment and may also exists the past and in the future. (…)
(GREENBAUM and QUIRK, 2006, p.47)
Take a look at the figures below:
Tense, to conclude, can be the defined as the forms a verb takes by inflection or by adding auxiliary words, so as to indicate the time of the action or event signified; which verbs undergo the modification for the Indication of time. Consequently, time can be understood as points specifically located in the timeline.
Simple and complex verb phrase
Take a look at the examples below:
 a) Friends respect each other.
b) Felines hunt at night.
c) The government announced new fiscal adjustment measures yesterday.
d) Shut up!
 Analyzing each one of them we notice that there is only one verb in their structure. They vary in what concerns to type – one of them is an imperative phrase – but we find only one verb. They are examples of SIMPLE VERB PHRASES.
According to what was said previously we can conclude that there are verbs that complement the meaning of the verbs that express the actual action and other that complement verbs expressing mood. There is a name for each one of them:
Modal, followed by an auxiliary: You must follow the orders!
Perfect (auxiliary have), followed by the participle form: She has finished her duties.
Progressive (the auxiliary be), followed by an –ing form: The detectives are interrogating a suspect.
Passive (the auxiliary be), followed by an –ed form: Brazil was discovered in 1500.
As a result of the foregoing discussion, it can be said that there are lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs always precede main verbs within a verb phrase. Auxiliaries are also known as helping verbs. They contrast with lexical verbs, also known as main verbs since they are responsible for the meaning in a verb phrase.
Aula 5: Tense and Aspect: Presente e Passado
1. Paving the way 
1.1 Phrases and their characteristics
Before beginning our discussion of ABOUT THE SUBJECT OF the class in question, let's go over some points in order to move forward with greater confidence and easily. Actually, it never WON’T HURT to review important aspects that allow us to grab the knowledge presented to us.
 As we SAW in the beginning of our course, words can be organized into higher units known as phrases.
A phrase may consist of a single word or a group of words. The following examples are effective examples of the three major phrases:
 [The opposition] [demands] [more governmental investments in education].
It is quite easy to identify phrases inside bigger structures:
Phrases can be identified by substitution – that is, by replacing one expression with another to see how it fits into the structure. In particular, a multi-word can often be replaced by a single word  phrase without changing its meaning. (…) We can also identify phrases by movement tests. A phrase can be moved as a unit to a different position. When we place one set of brackets inside another, this means that one phrase is embedded (i.e. included) inside another. The possibility of embedding sometimes means that a given structure can be understood in two or more different ways. (BIBER, CONRAD and Leech, 2011, p. 38)
Let us put into practice what is said in the above quotation and check the reality of what was said. Let us come back to the given example above:
 [The opposition] [demands] [more governmental investments in education].
 Identifying phrases:
 [It] [demands] [something]
 Well, the substitution seems to confirm our previous conclusion – there are three phrases in the given example.
In summary:
Words make up phrases, which behave like units.
A phrase can consist of either one word or more.
Phrases can be identified by substitutions and movements tests. 
Differences in phrase structure show up in differences of meaning.
Phrases can be embedded (i. e. one phrase can be part ofthe structure of another phrase).
Phrases change both in their internal structure and in their syntactic performances. It means that in larger structures phrases become part of a logical arrangement. They can function as objects and subjects, for example. The ability to recognize this functional feature typical of phrases can be crucial for the interpretation of linguistic situations. According to the function performed, phrases can be classified in different types.
1. Paving the way 
1.2 Syntactic role of phrases
As we saw in the last class, when we deal with verb phrases we notice that its head is a verb (morphologically speaking), its syntactic role is to function as predicators and they semantically express the action that is being expressed within the communicative act.
 
 
In the figure we can verify what was said: the verb phrase is composed by the verb – ate – and a noun phrase that has its impact diminished since its presence is determined by the verb that demands complementation.
Said that, let’s move on.
1. Paving the way 
1.3 Clauses and their characteristics
The clause is the key unit of syntax, capable of occurring independently (i. e. without being part of any other unit). It is useful to think of the clause as a unit that can stand alone as an expression of a “complete thought” – that is a complete description of an event or of an state of affairs. Hence, many spoken utterances consist of a single clause:
Have you got an exam on Monday? (CONV)
and the same is true for many written sentences:
She smiled sweetly. (FICT) (…). 
(BIBER, CONRAD and LEECH, 2011, p.47)
Noun phrase
The meaning or definition of a Noun Phrase is as follows. A group of words used to form a basic name when it is:
 • impractical to employ a single noun word;
• when a single noun would have too broad a concept if used as a basic name. For example, 'machine' and 'board‘.
See the examples:
 • The Vice President of the Textile Industries Association.
• The new vitamin packed high calcium low fat breakfast cereal.
• The crimson, ermine trimmed, velvet gown with gold trimmings was worn by Anne Boleyn at her coronation.
“A phrase with a noun as its head is a noun phrase. The head can appear in uncountable occasions preceded by determiners such as the, her, a and can be accompanied by modifiers.“
2. Noun phrase
2.1 Determiners
Determiners are words that are used with nouns to clarify it. They can clarify:
 • To define something or someone.
• To state the amount of things, people or other nouns.
• To state possessives.
• To state someone or something is (or is not) specific.
• To state how things or people are distributed.
• To state difference between nouns.
Determiners are a huge category and there are different types of them and their use is subject to the type of the noun to which it relates. Singular nouns always need determiners and they are optional when they are related to plural nouns. The same occurs when uncountable nouns occur. There are about different types of determiners in English: quantifiers, article, possessive, demonstratives, ordinals and numbers.
2. Noun phrase
2.2 Modifiers
Modifiers are optional elements in phrase structure or clause structure. Its occurrence is not mandatory or essential in a phrase or clause. Actually it can be removed and still not cause any damage to the idea that is being transmitted. In English, adverbs and adjectives  function as modifiers, but they also have other functions. Moreover, other parts of speech (or even entire phrases or clauses) can function as modifiers.
Modifiers can be placed in different ways in a phrase or clause and, according to its placement it is called pre-modifier, when placed before the head (the modified component). A post-modifier is a modifier placed after the head:
 Ancient times –> pre-modifier
Men in black suits -> post-modifier
However it is good to remember that although modifiers may precede nouns or come after them, their placement must BE carefully measured so it is connected to the intended noun. Otherwise, the misplacement of modifiers can cause unintentional and  unwanted changes in the general sense of the phrase or clause.
Some modifiers, especially simple modifiers — only, just, nearly, barely — have a bad habit of slipping into the wrong place in a sentence. When a modifier improperly modifies something, it is called a "dangling modifier." Take a look:
That Wolfgang Puck introduced a new latte line may not be surprising, but the container, which heats itself, is. By pressing a button on the bottom, water mixes with quicklime, producing a chemical reaction that heats the coffee."
(The New York Times, May 2005)
Princess Beatrice, who is starting a history degree at Goldsmiths College, London, later this year, was photographed running in the surf on the island of St Barts with her American boyfriend Dave Clark dressed in a blue bikini last month.
("Sarah, Duchess of York Defends Princess Beatrice's Weight Against ‘Rude’ Critics." May 13, 2008)
You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian composers, artists, and writers are buried daily, except on Thursdays. (in a guide to a Russian Orthodox monastery) 
Were you able to perceive the confusion created by the misplacements? Can water press any buttom? Think about it!
2. Noun phrase
2.3 Noun clauses and noun phrases
What is a clause? What is a phrase?
Noun clause - The label noun clause refers to any kind of subordinate clause which can occupy the position of a noun or noun phrase. It can, for example, be the subject of a verb. It can also be the object of a verb.
 She has decided that she will find a good job. (Here the noun clause ‘that she will find a good job’ is the object of the verb decided.) 
That she has not yet arrived worries me. (Here the noun clause ‘that she has not yet arrived’ is the subject of the verb worries.)