Final answer:
Noun phrases should be expanded first in isolation and then in the subject position within sentences to properly understand their use and ensure subject/verb agreement.
Step-by-step explanation:
Noun phrases should first be expanded in isolation and then in subject position in sentences. This process ensures that students learn how to develop and use noun phrases effectively within the context of a sentence. When expanding noun phrases in isolation, students focus on building the complexity of the noun phrase itself, without the influence of other sentence elements. Subsequently, practicing this in the subject position within sentences helps in understanding and maintaining proper subject/verb agreement and overall sentence structure.
For instance, starting with a simple noun phrase like 'the cat', one might expand it to 'the hungry, quick brown cat' in isolation. When placing this expanded noun phrase into a subject position in a sentence, it should be correctly followed by a verb that agrees in number, like 'runs swiftly after the mouse,' resulting in the complete sentence 'The hungry, quick brown cat runs swiftly after the mouse.'