Teaching grammar
communicatively and
functionally
Jacqui Dornbrack
Schools Development Unit
UCT
Jacqui.dornbrack@uct.ac.za

Needs to be: explicit,
communicative, functional
It’s no use for a learner simply to
know that an ‘adjective describes a
noun’. They also need to know how to
use adjectives to enrich their own
writing and to identify how adjectives
work (function) to persuade them to
react in certain ways to texts.

ADJECTIVES
• Describing words
• Describe nouns: things, people, events,
places
• Function: make things more interesting,
provide details, persuade readers

The washerwoman’s prayer
Oswald Mtshali
Look at her hands
Raw, knobbly and calloused.
Look at her face
Like a bean skin soaked in brine.

Now onto the function…
• By now they should have a good
understanding of what an adjective is.
Now it’s important for them to understand
how adjectives FUNCTION to POSITION
readers and how WRITERS USE
ADJECTIVES to POSITION their readers.

Read at the following:
The wide playgrounds were swarming with boys.
All were shouting and the prefects urged them
on with strong cries. The evening air was pale
and chilly and after every charge and thud of the
footballers the greasy leather orb flew like a
heavy bird through the grey light. He kept on the
fringe of his line, out of sight of his prefect,
feigning to run now and then. He felt his body
small and weak amid the throng of players and
his eyes were weak and watery.
James Joyce: A portrait of the Artist as a young man

Read at the following:
The wide playgrounds were swarming with
boys. All were shouting and the prefects urged
them on with strong cries. The evening air was
pale and chilly and after every charge and thud
of the footballers the greasy leather orb flew like
a heavy bird through the grey light. He kept on
the fringe of his line, out of sight of his prefect,
feigning to run now and then. He felt his body
small and weak amid the throng of players and
his eyes were weak and watery.
James Joyce: A portrait of the Artist as a young man

Crisis in Cairo: The latest from
Egypt in Turmoil
• Hilary Clinton: Vice president Suleiman
spoke today about the need for a free and
fair election. That is essential and I urge
the government and a broad and credible
representation of Egypt’s opposition, civil
society and political factions to begin
immediately on serious negotiations on a
peaceful and orderly transition. The
Egyptian people expect a meaningful
process that yields concrete changes.

Crisis in Cairo: The latest from
Egypt in Turmoil
• Hilary Clinton: Vice president Suleiman
spoke today about the need for a free and
fair election. That is essential and I urge
the government and a broad and
credible representation of Egypt’s
opposition, civil society and political
factions to begin immediately on serious
negotiations on a peaceful and orderly
transition. The Egyptian people expect a
meaningful process that yields concrete
changes.

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Some ideas
• Use a thesaurus to find synonyms for
common adjectives
• Play the game of SNAP
• Write a descriptive piece on their rooms,
their favourite person, last night’s meal..

Now let them use adjectives
• Write a descriptive piece…
• Write/analyse a poem
• Write/analyse an advertisement
• Rewrite an existing advertisement or news
report to reposition the reader…changing
all the positive adjectives into negative
adjectives….