C Língua Inglesa, Estrutura Básica

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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?’
	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. 
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!
	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.  
	Our choice has been made. We have decided to become English teachers. But do we do know what is this about? What role will I play in society as a language teacher? What is the social importance of the content I intend to teach in society? Can I make a difference? Well, the answers to the previous questions are actually quite private since each and each everyone of us tends to follow different paths. But there are some common points that can be discussed in order to bring some light to our journeys.
	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.(…) 
	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.”
	Dictionaries! Yes, sometimes starting with the basics helps us to open our eyes to more complex questions. Thinking of the definitions we notice that there are some dominant words and ideas - to give training or lessons, pass on knowledge or skill, to show the bad results, helping a person or group of people to learn - that are connected by an inspiring and quite illustrative guiding principle: to be a teacher means to help others to improve, to reach higher levels of conscience through intellectual refining. It means to help people to correct what is misunderstood and become inquisitive. It means to help others to reveal that never satisfied side of personality, that hunger for searching and revealing what is yet unknown. 
	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. 
	English culture – English, American, and Australian – enchants people around the world. That is certainly what confirms the English teacher, no matter what field he is dedicated to, specially important. It is logical. Fluency and mastery over the idiom is required as decisive aspects in many different levels. Having it or not may either open or close doors.
	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 powerof 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. 
INTRODUCTION TO MORPHOLOGY
	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 understand how 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.
	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.”
 	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)."
	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.
	We have started talking blithely about words and morphemes as if it were obvious that these categories exist and that we know them when we see them. This assumption comes naturally to literate speakers of English, because we've learned through reading and writing where white space goes, which defines word boundaries for us; and we soon see many cases where English words have internal parts with separate meanings or grammatical functions, which must be morphemes.
	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 spokenword 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?
- Phrase: a group of words which makes sense, but not complete sense, is called a Phrase. It is a group of related words without a subject and a verb. 
	
	 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.
SYNTATIC 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. 
	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:
1. 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.
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.
	Before the 20th century, the term philology was commonly used to refer to the science of language, which was then predominant. Linguistics was lately designated to name the study of language, sometimes called the science of language.  The subject has become a very technical, splitting into separate fields: sound (phonetics and phonology), sentence structure (syntax, structuralism, deep grammar), meaning (semantics), practical psychology (psycholinguistics) and contexts of language choice (pragmatics). 
	But originally, as practiced in the nineteenth century, linguistics was philology: the history of words. Philologists tried to understand how words had changed and by what principle. Since Saussure's insistence on the importance of synchronic analysis, however, this focus has shifted and the term philology is now generally used to designate studies focusing language history, and literary tradition. 
		According to an evolutionary movement Linguistics has turned out to be the scientific study of human language.   "When linguists use the term language, or natural human language,they are revealing their belief that at the abstract level, beneath the surface variation, languages are remarkably similar in form and function and conform to certain universal principles."
THE CONCEPT OF LINGUISTICS
	Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context.
	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 this field of study. A primary definition was offered, but what in fact is the definition of syntax?
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. 
• SUBJECT - The subject of a sentence or clause is the part of the sentence or clause about which something is being said. It is usually the doer of the action. It is a noun or a pronoun. All of the subjects on this page are italicized.
• PREDICATE - The predicate of a sentence is that part of the sentence which says something about the subject. It expresses the action of the sentence or the condition of the subject.
Example: Romans (SUBJECT) were powerful warriors and devoted citizens. (PREDICATE)
• DIRECT OBJECT - A direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb or shows the result of the action. It answers the question "What?" or "Whom?" after an action verb. An action verb with a direct object is called a transitive verb.
Example: Josh received a letter.
• INDIRECT OBJECT - An indirect object precedes the direct object and tells to whom or for whom the action of the verb is done and who is receiving the direct object. There must be a direct object to have an indirect object. Indirect objects are usually found with verbs of giving or communicating like give, bring, tell, show, take, or offer. An indirect object is always a noun or pronoun which is not part of a prepositional phrase.
Example: She gave me the report.
	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. 
Aula 4 - Verb Phrases
DEFINING A PHRASE - STRUCTURE AND HEAD
When we look at nouns and pronouns, we say that a pronoun can sometimes replace a noun in a sentence: 
- Politicians should follow a strict code of ethics. (They should follow a strict code of ethics).
Here it is certainly true that the pronoun they replaces the noun politicians. But consider: 
- The politicians should follow a strict code of ethics. (They should follow a strict code of ethics).
In this exemple, they does not replace children. Instead, it replaces the children which is a unit consisting of a determiner and a noun. We refer to this unit as a NOUN PHRASE (NP), and we define it as any unit in which the central element is a noun. Here is another ex.:
- Children like the taste of melting chocolate. (Children like it).
In this case, the pronoun it replaces not just a nun but a five-word noun phrase, the taste of melting chocolate. So instead of saying that pronouns can replace nouns, it is more accurate to say that they can replace noun phrases.
	We refer to the central element in a phrase as the HEAD of the phrase. In the noun phrase the children, the head is children. In the noun phrase the title of your book, the head is title. 
	Noun phrases do not have to contain strings of words. In fact, they can contain just one word, such as the word politicians. This is also a phrase, though it contains only a head. At the level of word class, of course, we would call politician a plutal, common noun. But in a phrase - level analysis, we call politicians alone. This is not simply a matter of terminology - we call it a noun phrase because it can be expanded to form longer strings which are more clearly noun phrases.
	Phrases consist minimally of a head. This means that in a one-word phrase like [children - Children like the taste of melting chocolate.], the head is children. In longer phrases, a tring of elements may appear before the head:
- The endangered [phe-head string] animals [head] in the wild [post-head string] should be protected by internation laws. 
	In such cases the is a 3-part structure. Out these 3 parts, only the head is obligatory. It is the only part which canoot be omitted from the phrase. Pre-head and post-head strings can be omitted and you still find a complete noun phrase. We can even omit the pre- and post- head strings at thesame time, leaving only the 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.
	One interesting thing to keep in mind when we study idioms in general is that they are pretty much self explanatory. It means that when studying similar subjects, a paradigmatic relation may be established and conclusions can be derived from a comparative analysis involving the established relationship.
	Thus being, what is said about adverbial or noun phrases, for example, in a general spectrum can be applied to verb phrases structure. 
	However, most verbs in English can be both transitive and intransitive, so it is perhaps more accurate to refer to transitive and intransitive uses of a verb. The following examples show the two uses of the same verb:
Intransitive: David smokes.
Transitive: David smokes cigars.
	As we saw the head of a Verb Phrase (VP) is a verb. Some important observations about verbs must be done in what concerns TIME and TENSE. 
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.
	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. 
	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. 
	Simple verb phrases consist of only one verb, which may be imperative, present, or past. On the other hand, we often find other different structures:
 - John has finally found the love of her life.
- Customers may withdraw their purchases on the counter.
- Children must be respected as if they were adults. 
	Analyzing each one of them we notice that there is more than one verb in their structure. They are examples of COMPLEX VERB PHRASES which consist in the occurrence of more than one verb in a phrase structure.
	In a complex verb phrase verbs we find verbs that are actually responsible for the ongoing action while other complement their meaning indicating tense or mood. These are called auxiliary verbs, and when inserted in the structure of phrases and sentences follow a strict order.
	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. 
	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 of the structure of another phrase).
1.2 Syntactic role of phrases: 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.
	For each class of lexical word, there is a major type phrase with an example of that class as the head (as we saw previously) which is the principal obligatory word. To move forwards, let us recall the procedure of word classification, taking into consideration the following factors – form/structure, syntactic role, and meaning.
Form/structure: it has to do specially with the word class of the head of the phrase in an analogous process of word class recognition.
Syntactic role: phrases can be described and classified according to their function it performs.
Meaning: The semantic nature of phrases is to specify and convey meaning. 
	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 wassaid: 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.
1.3 Clauses and their characteristics: Basically, clauses can be defined as a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate. A clause may be either a sentence – independent clause -  or a sentence-like construction within another sentence – dependent clause.
2. Noun phrase: what's a noun phrase? First things first! A noun is the name of any person, place of thing as John, London or book. In Ensligh grammar, a Phrase is a group of words containing a subject and predicate and functioning as a member of a complex or compound sentence.
	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.“
2.1 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. 
	
2.2 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. See the following examples:
 • His desk was in [the faculty office]. (noun in noun phrase)
• I saw [the man whom we met yesterday]. (clause in noun phrase)
• She's [the woman with the hat]. (preposition phrase in noun phrase)
• We've already [gone twelve miles]. (noun phrase in verb phrase)
	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."
- 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.
- You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian composers, artists, and writers are buried daily, except on Thursdays. 
2.3 Noun clauses and noun phrases 
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.)
Noun phrase - A noun phrase is a syntactic unit which can serve as subject, direct object or object of a preposition in a sentence. A noun phrase is constructed around a noun or a pronoun as its head. A noun phrase may be of any size. The simplest form consists of just one word.
 - Italian Renaissance painters left an incomparable legacy.     NP = SUBJECT
Aula 6 - Nouns and Noun Phrases - Countable and Uncountable Nouns
NOUNS - FURTHER OBSERVATIONS
	It is known that a set of words that display the same formal properties, especially their inflections – a process of word formation in which items is added to the base form of a word – and distribution belong to the same word class. This term is quite close to the more traditional term parts of the speech. 
	Words are classified according to the work they perform inside the structure of a sentence. Consequently, we can conclude that words that belong to the same word class play the same type of function. Each word play an specific role in the sentence and their jobs are quite different from each other.
	The jobs done by verbs, for example are quite different from those done by prepositions. Take a look at a rather simple example as the one given below:
 - In more recent years, education and personal development became serious concern to politics.
	In this sentence, you can see that each word performs a different role. Therefore, they can be individually classified as verbs, nouns, adverbs and so on.
1.1.1 Countable nouns: A noun can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be counted; they have a singular and plural form. Example: A book, one book, three books. One dollar, two dollars, a hundred dollars.
	Notice that when we talk about more than one of the mentioned objects we add –s to make the plural. We add –es to determine words to make their plural forms. Nouns that end in ch, sh, s, ss, x, z, zz form the plural form by adding –es: One wrench  -  two wrenches. One fish - two fishes
1.1.2 - Uncountable nouns: mass nouns or non count nouns - cannot be counted. This means you cannot make them plural by adding -s, because they only have a singular form. It also means that they do not take a/an or a number in front of them. For example: water, work, information, coffee and sand.
Making uncountable nouns countable: You can make most uncountable noun countable by putting a countable expression in front of the noun. For example: A piece of information.
2 glasses of water. 10 litres of coffee. Three grains of sand. A pane of glass.
Sources of confusion with countable and uncountable nouns.
	The notion of countable and uncountable can be confusing. Some nouns can be countable or uncountable depending on their meaning.
	Usually a noun is uncountable when used in a general, abstract meaning (when you don't think of it as a separate object) and countable when used in a particular meaning (when you can think of it as a separate object). 
- Glass - A glass of water. (Countable) | A window made of glass. (Uncountable)
	Some supposedly uncountablenouns can behave like countable nouns if we think of them as being in containers, or one of several types. This is because containers and  types can be counted. Believe it or not each of these sentences is correct!
- Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two coffees a day.(Here coffees refers to the number of cups of coffee) You could write; "Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two cups of coffee a day." The coffees I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian. (Here coffees refers to different types of coffee. The same as in The types of coffee I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian.) Mission accomplished! 
2 - Back to Noun Phrase: We know that nouns are the core of noun phrases. However, we find noun phrases which internal structure differ from those traditionally worked examples.
2.1 - The genitive case: historically many cases ending for nouns like the nominative and the accusative cases of pronouns could be found. The only case ending that survived in modern English noun is the genitive ending 's. The genitive case is predominatly the form used to indicate possession. It is usually created by adding 's to the word or by preceding it with ''of''. Example: 
- Take out the hamster's wheel and open the back of the cage.
 
Take a look at the examples below:
 - "I will not hide the teacher's Prozac."(Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)
 - "The winner's edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude.(Denis Waitley)
- "An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him."(Alan Jay Lerner)
 	As we could see we can find genitive case functioning the same way a noun does when in a noun phrase since they can develop the same functions a noun does when in connection to it such as subject or object.
2.2 - The Gerund: In order to start our discussion, let’s think about some initial and instigating questions: Do you know what gerund is? Do you know what infinitive is? Take a look at the examples below:
 
a. Gerald is sure about his love for Jenna. He wants to marry her.
b. Silence! Gerald is proposing to Jenna!!
	In example a we notice that the verb is found in the infinitive form – it is preceded by TO, an infinitive marker – and it functions as the direct object to the verb WANT. The infinitive is the base form of a verb. It may be preceded by 'to' (the to-infinitive) or stand alone (the base or zero infinitive). The to-infinitive is used:
a. after certain verbs. e.g. want, wish, agree, fail, mean, decide, learn;
b. after the auxiliaries to be to, to have to, and ought to;
c. in the pattern 'it is + adjective + to-infinitive‘.
	The most common uses of the infinitive are:
- To indicate the purpose or intention of an action (where the 'to' has the same meaning as 'in order to' or 'so as to').
- As the subject of the sentence.
- With nouns or pronouns, to indicate what something can be used for, or what is to be done with it.
- After adjectives in these patterns:
It is + adjective + to-infinitive = It is good to talk;
It is + adjective + infinitive + for someone + to-infinitive = It is hard for elephants to see mice;
It is + adjective + infinitive + of someone + to-infinitive = It is unkind of her to say that.
- After an adjective + noun when a comment or judgment is being made.
- With too and enough
- Other forms of infinitive:
The perfect infinitive: I would like to have visited the Eiffel Tower when I went to Paris.
Someone must have broken the window
The continuous infinitive: You must be joking!
The perfect continuous infinitive: She must have been crying.
The passive infinitive: I am expecting to be given a pay-rise next month.
	Thinking about what we have just seen we can conclude that infinitive is the form of the verb expresses the action of undetermined manner.
	On the other hand, if we look at the example b we notice that the verb behaves in a different way than what we saw when studying the infinitive. Actually, if we pay attention to how the action is expressed in relation to the time when it is expressed, we see clearly the idea of movement. In fact, in the example b, we face an ongoing action. This idea of ongoing movement is transmitted especially by the –ing ending of the verb – the gerund. Gerund is the form in which we find the verbs that express progressive action.
	A gerund phrase will begin with a gerund, an ing word, and will include other modifiers and/or objects. Gerund phrases always function as nouns, so they will be subject, subject complements or objects in the sentence. Read these examples: 
- Knowing the truth has helped them a lot.
- Helping the poor has always been his main goal.
- Raising children can be a very tiring profession.
- Ironing pants is more complicated than washing them.
- Running marathons is my favorite activity.
- I love listening to my favorite band.
An important thing is to notice that these gerund cases admitted modifiers - adverbial modifiers - just like any other verb, even though it's acting as a noun. 
Aula 7 - As Funções das Noun Phrases
	
	When studying languages the commitment required in relation to dominate rules, variations and kinds of linguistic manifestations is a mandatory reality. To firmly feel that a determinate idiom is part of a constituted knowledge levels must have been achieved and exceeded in a constant search for sophistication.
	Being so, it is quite important to understand the various dimension involving language and communication. That’s why, in this class, we will dedicate our attention to grammatical relations noun phrases are entitled to perform and establish within sentences.
	To start with, let’s refresh our memory in relation to some aspects. We must be aware that when we discuss about language we face a totally interconnected system in which elements can vary in what relate to use, application and representation.
	
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
Oscar Wilde - Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet (1854 - 1900) This is just a sampling of provocative statements from the brilliant British author. If we take the sentence and play around with it a little bit we will notice that things may change a little. Probably we agree that something is said about the noun illusion. It is valid to say that the referred noun is the subject of the sentence. 
Well succeeded individuals avoid illusion at any cost.
The same noun – illusion – is now the object of the verb to avoid. There was a changing of roles played as the intended message changed. The same thing can occur with noun phrases when inside complex linguistic structures. They can play different roles just as nouns do.
GRAMMAR
	When we think about words performing various functions along the communicative process, we tend to think that there should be a way to view the possibilities of action and organization, and those possibilities should follow a pattern that preserves the effectiveness of communication. 
	Otherwise understanding between the individuals would not be a reality. All were 
condemned to isolation, to loneliness, determined by an inability to relationships caused by the existence of private languages. 
	Every nation, due to historical, geographical and ethnic developed over time ways of speaking that it's a trait of his nationality. These idioms, even presenting variations of different kind and level here and there, obey an internal structural organization that poses as its own guarantee of existence. In other words, communication of thoughts and feelings is made effective through a system of arbitrary elements. 
	Such  system includes rules for combining its components, such as words. These systems are used by nations, people, or other distinct community. But… what are those rules? Where can we find them?
Common and traditionally language rules are found in grammars: Grammar is the structural foundation of our ability to express ourselves. The more we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the meaning and effectiveness of the way we and others use language. It can help foster precision, detectambiguity, and exploit the richness of expression available in English. And it can help everyone – not only teachers of English, but teachers of anything, for all teaching is ultimately a matter of getting to grips with meaning.
	 Without any tension in the term grammar can suggests, it is undeniable the need to have a good relationship with this compendium of rules and observations. Grammar is important because it is the language that makes it possible for us to talk and interact. Grammar names the types of words and word groups that make up sentences not only in English but in any language. 
	As human beings, we can put sentences together even as children. But to be able to talk about how sentences are built, about the types of words and word groups that make up sentences. And knowing about grammar offers a window into the human mind and into our amazingly complex mental capacity. 
	But knowing about grammar also helps us understand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear and interesting and precise. Grammar can be part of literature discussions, when we and our students closely read the sentences in poetry and stories. Finally, knowing about grammar means finding out that all languages and all dialects follow grammatical patterns.
	When discussing the previous example we talked about words developing different functions in sentences depending on contents and intentions – subject and object, for instance. Well, this terminology is extracted from a grammar section called Syntax. It is according to a syntactic view that our next discussions will happen.
	
NOUN PHRASES FUNCTIONS
	The functions will be illustrated by examples, but it is always useful to remember that all examples will be built according to specific necessity and content may interfere in the way a phrase is constituted.
	Nouns and noun phrases – and pronouns as well -  perform ten main grammatical functions within sentences in the English language. Both native speakers and ESL students must learn the ten functions to fully and correctly use nouns and noun phrases in spoken and written English.
	The primary function of a singular noun phrase in a sentence is, roughly speaking, to draw the attention of the hearer to some object in the world that is relevant to the current conversational situation. 
	However, such a generalization masks the fact that there are many ways in which this function can be performed. A number of important distinctions concerning the use of noun phrases can be made when investigating it. This section, gives some idea of the range of functions that a noun phrase may assume.
The ten functions of nouns and noun phrases are:
3.1 Subject: The subject of a sentence or clause is the part of the sentence or clause about which something is being said. It is usually. It is the doer of the action: “The subject is a noun phrase.”
3.2 Predicate nominative: The predicate nominative is the noun following a linking verb that restates or stands for the subject. It can be an adjective phrase, a noun phrase or a prepositional phrase. It follows the verb and the direct object. There are two major types of predicative: a) Subject Predicative – They characterize or specify the subject noun phrase. It can also be called subject complement.
3.3 Direct object: A direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb or shows the result of the action. It answers the question "What?" or "Whom?" after an action verb. An action verb with a direct object is called a transitive verb. Nouns have traditionally been defined as words for people, places, things, and ideas. A noun phrase consists of a noun plus any modifiers, complements, and determiners that provide more information about the noun. In grammar, direct object is a word, phrase, or clause that follows and receives the action of a mono-transitive verb. Nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases most frequently function as direct objects in English grammar. The first grammatical form that can perform the grammatical function of direct object is the noun phrase.
3.4 Object complement: One of the grammatical forms that can perform the grammatical function of object complement is the noun clause. Noun clauses are defined as subordinate clauses formed by a clause preceded by a subordinating conjunction.
3.5 Indirect object: An indirect object precedes the direct object and tells to whom or for whom the action of the verb is done and who is receiving the direct object. There must be a direct object to have an indirect object. Indirect objects are usually found with verbs of giving or communicating like give, bring, tell, show, take, or offer. An indirect object is always a noun or pronoun which is not part of a prepositional phrase. 
3.6 Prepositional complement: Nouns clauses function as prepositional complements. Prepositional complements are words, phrases, and clauses that directly follow a preposition and complete the meaning of a prepositional phrase. The underlined noun clauses are examples of prepositional complements: Both finite and nonfinite noun clauses can function as prepositional complements.
3.7 Noun phrase: Noun phrase modifier. We all know that a noun can have its meaning changed if some words are attached to it. It can be modified by other noun phrases.
3.8 Possessive modifier: A possessive modifier is a noun or a pronoun added to a noun to denote possession. Occasionally a noun that has the form of a possessive modifier is added to another noun to express some other idea than possession.
3.9 Appositive: Appositive means near. In English grammar an appositive is a noun or pronoun placed near another noun or pronoun. The appositive enhances our understanding of the original noun or pronoun. In other words, a single noun, a noun phrase or a series of nouns placed next to another word or phrase to identify or rename it. Appositives are usually set off by punctuation marks such as commas parentheses, or dashes. It is a handy way of adding details to a sentence. The term comes from the Latin word for "placing close by," and an appositive usually appears right after the word or phrase that it renames.
3.10 Adverbial: The part of the speech that is primarily used to modify a verb, adjective, or other adverb are the adverbs. An adverb that modifies an adjective ("quite sad") or another adverb ("very carelessly") appears immediately in front of the word it modifies. An adverb that modifies a verb is generally more flexible: it may appear before or after the verb it modifies ("softly sang" or "sang softly"), or it may appear at the beginning of the sentence ("Softly she sang to the baby").
Aula 8 - Adjective Phrase - The Adjective in English
ADJECTIVES IN ENGLISH
	When an ordinary human being can say who actually lived? What is necessary for us to say that we were part of a context? As we live. The key word for those issues is experience. Life is based on a sequence of experiments that are effective when we risk ourselves to it. When someone does not try, we can say that he did not live.
	The escalation of experiences that each human being makes throughout his life is regulated and motivated by a typically human capacity that is his ability to provide a rigorously critical view of all around: To Larrosa Bondía (2002, p. 21), "a experiência é o que nos passa, o que nos acontece, o que nos toca. Não o que se passa, não o que acontece, ou o que toca". Desta maneira, a experiência está diretamente relacionada com o homem, aliás, só se realiza pelo homem. This continuous existence process marked by experience is guided by critical capacity that, in the end of the day, is based on a matter of taste, a matter of affinity. 
	What should I eat in my breakfast? What should I dress? Who should I choose to be friends with? What career should pursue in my life? What school should I choose to my sons? What name should I choose to them? These are only few simple questions, or not so, that we face everyday. Isn’t it true that all the answers come from our feelingstowards the possibilities of choices we are offered?
	For example, one could say: I will name my daughter Emma. It is gorgeous! Others would probably wince in disapproval. For them, Emma is a horrible name for any child!
	This life long liking and disliking attitude can be verbally expressed. Language has a specific category of words that can precisely express our affection for things, persons, and situations: (..) as palavras determinam nosso pensamento porque não pensamos com pensamentos, mas com palavras, não pensamos a partir de uma suposta genialidade ou inteligência, mas a partir de nossas palavras. E pensar não é somente 'raciocinar' ou 'calcular' ou 'argumentar', como nos tem ensinado algumas vezes, mas é sobretudo dar sentido ao que somos e ao que nos acontece. E isto, o sentido ou o sem-sentido, é algo que tem a ver com as palavras. E, portanto, também tem a ver com as palavras o modo como nos colocamos diante de nós mesmos, diante dos outros e diante do mundo em que vivemos. E o modo como agimos em relação a tudo isso. 
	The category we are talking about is the category of the adjectives. Take a look at the following examples:
- A great city is that which has the greatest men and women.
- All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.
- Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. 
- A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
	The quotes above belong to an American poet, Walt Whitman; an English writer, Oscar Wilde; and an American journalist, H. L. Mencken. They expressed their opinions about different subjects and they did that by using words that could express the exact measure of their criticism about events, society and people. Notice that the words in bold have a particularly sentimental connotation. These words are adjectives.
WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE?
	When we think about words performing various functions along the communicative process, we tend to think that there should be a way to view the possibilities of action and organization, and those possibilities should follow a pattern that preserves the effectiveness of communication. Otherwise understanding between the individuals would not be a reality.
	 Otherwise humans will be tied to a life of isolation and loneliness, determined by an inability to relationships caused by the existence of private languages. Different historical, geographical and ethnic reasons lead to the development over time ways of different ways of speaking. Each one ended up as an effective and genuine trait of nationality. These idioms, even presenting variations obey an internal structural organization that poses as its own guarantee of existence. In other words, communication of thoughts and feelings is made effective through a system of arbitrary elements.
	Adjectives, as part of available communication apparatus present in any idiom, follow a system of patterns and rules when used in the interlocutory process. Adjectives belong to a class of words that are used to attribute notions of quality and state to nouns to which they are usually connected to. 
	O adjetivo é uma espécie de palavra que serve para caracterizar os seres ou os objetos nomeados pelo substantivo, indicando-lhes:
a) uma qualidade (ou defeito): moça gentil, pensamento obscuro;
b) o modo de ser: pessoa hábil; 
c) o aspecto ou aparência: jardim florido;
d) o estado: criança enferma.
	In other words, according to the previous definition that can be applied to English adjectives too, an adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun or a pronoun.Actually, by telling us extra information about nouns or pronouns, adjectives end up describing or modifying them.
	Four features are commonly considered to be characteristics of adjectives:
- Attributive: they can occur in ATTRIBUTIVE function, ie they can personify a noun, appearing between the determiner (including zero article) and the head of a noun phrase. 
- Predicative: they can freely occur in PREDICATIVE function, ie they can function as subject complement, as in [1], or as object complement.
- Intensifer: they can be modified by the intensifier very.
- Comparative and Superlative: The comparison may be by means of inflections (-er and –er), as in [3-4], or by the addition of the premodifiers more and most (“periphrastic comparison”).
	Not all words that are traditionally regarded as adjectives possess all these four features. The last two features generally coincide for a particular word and depend on a semantic feature, grad ability. The adjective atomic in atomic scientist, for example, is not gradable and we therefore do not find *very atomic or *more atomic.
	
	Certain characteristics are typical of adjectives, although some escape this pattern. Central adjectives have all the characteristics. The ones with fewer of the characteristics are called peripheral adjectives. The characteristics mentioned above lead us to understand the morphological, syntactic, and semantic aspects adjectives have:
1. Morphological aspects – central adjectives can be inflected to show comparative and superlative degree: close, closer, closest.
2. Syntactic aspects – central adjectives serve both as attributive and predicative syntactic roles. In attributive position, adjective is part of a noun phrase – it modifies the head noun. Predicative adjectives are not part of a noun phrase.
3. Semantic aspects – Central adjectives are descriptive. In addition they are gradable, being able to express different degrees of qualities.
	By now, as a natural outcome of the first moments of our discussion about adjectives it must be pretty clear that this association between adjectives, nouns an pronouns is the very essence of this part of the speech, its function as discursive element, as well as its importance. Adjectives expand the ideas brought by each noun and pronoun making the shared message more and more faithful to the intent of the speaker that had been, in an earlier stage, mentally prepared. 
Adjective order
	Contrarily to what occurs in the Portuguese, in which adjectives may precede or come after noun, in English this word group joins others to further qualify them or change their meaning by being placed before them: ordinary day, for example. Also, in English, as in any other language, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun - for example, "He's a silly young fool," or "she's a smart, energetic woman." When you use more than one adjective you deal with a logical way to think and place adjectives: you have to put them in the right order, according to type.
1. Opinion: An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you). Examples: silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult.
2. Size: A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is. Examples: large, tiny, enormous, little.
3. Shape: A shape adjective describes the shape of something. Examples: square, round, flat, rectangular.
4. Age: An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is. Examples: ancient, new, young, old.
5. Material: A material adjective describes what something is made from. Examples: wooden, metal, cotton, paper.
6. Purpose: A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with "-ing". Examples: sleeping (as in "sleeping bag"), roasting (as in "roasting tin").
7. Color: A color adjective, of course, describes the colour of something. Examples: blue, pink, reddish, grey.
8. Origin: An origin adjective describes where something comes from. Examples: French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek.
Comparative and Superlative
	The comparative and superlative forms of a one-syllable adjective by adding –er for the comparative form and –est for the superlative.
- John is taller than his brother. Actually, he is the tallest in his family.
	If the one-syllable adjective ends with an e, just add –r for the comparative form and –st for the superlative form.
Aula 9 - Adjective Phrase - The Adjectivein English
- A happy child is a blessing to any home. 
- The student is very happy with the grades he got in the final exams. 
- An infinite list of complaints was presented by the angry customer.
- My love for Robert is infinite.
	Do you see what is going on in the examples? In both examples we notice that the adjectives happy and infinite transit through the sentences. They either attibute some quality to the nouns they are connected to, or they constitute the predicative. They are central adjectives, as we saw before.
- This is just utter nonsense!
- Bruce is afraid of the dark. 
	There are some adjectives that cannot behave either as attributive or predicative. As the ones found in the examples - utter and afraid - can only function as attributive or predicative, respectively. They are named peripheral adjectives. As a continuation of our discussions we see other types of adjectives. 
	Most '-ing' adjectives have a related transitive verb. You use some '-ing' adjectives to describe something that continues over a period of time. 
- Europe is an ageing continent.
- Increasing prices are making food very expensive.
	These adjectives have related intransitive verbs.
	Many '-ed' adjectives describe people's feelings. They have the same form as the past participle of a transitive verb and have a passive meaning. For exemple: A frightened person is a person who has been frightened by something.
- A bored student complained to his teacher.
	Note that the past participles of irregular verbs do not end in '-ed', but can be used as adjectives.
	A small number of -ed adjectives are normally only used after link verbs such as be, become, or feel. They are related to transitive verbs, and are often followed by a prepositional phrase, a to-infinitive clause, or that-clause.
- The Brazilians are pleased with the results of economical policies.
- She was scared that the police would find her.
	On the other hand, there are some -ly words that function as adjectives and adverbs. Exemples:
- Early birds get the best food.
- We finished early today.
Adjectives and Nouns
	Nouns, when linked to other nouns, function as premodifiers. For example: business partner, buss station. The ability to modify the nature of nouns is the only characteristic nouns and adjectives share. It is important to note that nouns and adjectives do not share any other feature. 
Aula 10 - Adjective Phrases - Structure and Function
Let's start with some examples:
1) This is the end of a very long road. (adjective phrase)
 2) Did you see the man leaving the shop? (adjective phrase)
	
	Do you see any difference between the two examples above? Do you think that the underlined parts are just the same?  Let us analyze the examples and we will see.
	In the first example – This is the end of a very long road. – it is quite easy to guess what is the adjective phrase since we clearly notice the presence of a typical adjective long. 
	On the other hand, the following example - Did you see the man leaving the shop? – may seem rather tricky. Where is the adjective that should denote the occurrence of an adjective phrase? Think a little. What man is being referred to in the example? Does the content of the sentence is related to any man? No. It refers to the man leaving the shop. Doesn’t it specify the man we are talking about? Doesn’t it, somehow, function as an adjective?
	
	Most people know what an adjective is, but when it comes to describing an adjective phrase, they get confused. Some are mistaken and think that this type of phrase is a group of words that has an adjective in it. Although this may be true, this is not an effective phrase. This type of phrase is actually a group of words that serves to describe a noun in a sentence, thus functioning as an adjective.
	You do not have to be and English teacher or grammar buff to understand what an adjective phrase is or how it works: in fact, we use these phrases all of the time in writing and in spoken English without thinking about them. Read on to learn more about how these handy phrases operate grammatically within the English language.
	Many people wonder how to pick out adjective phrases within sentences. The trick to identifying one in a sentence is to look at the first word of the group of words. If the first word is an adverb or preposition, there is a good chance that the phrase is an adjective phrase.
	Ask yourself, what is this phrase modifying? Is it describing the noun? If the group of words does in fact modify the noun or subject of the clause or sentence, then the phrase is in fact an adjective phrase. 
	Adjective phrases modify nouns. They may be attributive (appearing before the noun) or predicative (appearing after a linking verb), but not all adjectives can be used in both positions. 
	An adjective phrase is formed out of either an intensifier and an adjective, or alternatively, more than one adjective in a row. In the first case, an example might be “very beautiful” in the sentence, “The very beautiful woman walked down the street.”  
"An adjective phrase consists of an adjective which may be preceded and/or followed by other words. The premodifier is always an adverb phrase, but the post-modifiers can be an adverb phrase, a prepositional phrase, or even a clause. It is also possible to have a modifier that is partly in front and partly behind the head, called a discontinuous modifier, abbreviated as disc-mod."
	Also, “adjective phrases have an adjective as head, and optional modifiers that can precede or follow the adjective. (...) Modifiers typically answer a question about the degree of a quality. Adjective heads can also take complements.” Take a look at the examples below:
 - So lucky
- Good enough
- Desperately poor
	Reading the given examples, we perceive that the adjectives - lucky, good, poor – have their intensity gradually changed by the presence of another words – so, enough, desperately.
- Guilty of a serious crime
- Subject to approval by
- Slow to respond
	Equally, adjective phrases may structurally be very similar to a noun phrase:
"There may be very little difference between a noun phrase and an adjective phrase in structures where the adjectives occur before the word it qualifies. Most noun phrases consist of a head noun plus one or more adjectives, or indeed an adjective phrase itself. Consider the examples in a, below. [ADJECTIVE PHRASE]
- 'It was cold, bleak, biting weather.'
- 'He's an extraordinary looking man, and yet I can really name nothing out of the way.'
- 'In Beijing these days, one of the fastest-growing fortunes the world has ever seen is managed by fewer than two-dozen traders.'
- 'This was a hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a boisterous and decided manner.'
	In each of these examples, if we include the italicized head nouns, we have noun phrases with embedded adjective phrases; without the head nouns, we have adjective phrases. The focus is always on the head word (HW)."
Completed this first discussion, let's look a little closer at the structure of the noun phrase.
	
Adjective Phrase – Structure
Phrase – Structure is a way to describe a given language's syntax. They are used to break down a natural language sentence into its constituent parts (also known as syntactic categories) namely phrasal categories and lexical categories – parts of the speech. Phrase structure rules as the are commonly employed operate according to the constituency relation and a grammar that employs phrase structures rules is therefore a constituency grammar and as such, it stands in contrast to dependency grammars, which are based on the dependency relation.
	Considering the given example, we see that what actually happens confirm what was said in the previous paragraph. When a phrase or a sentence is broken into pieces we see that these pieces match, each one of them, to a certain morphological group that perform different syntactic functions. Some, such