Hi, everyone,

I was working on revising my school's course materials and wanted to create notes centered on getting students to grasp the grammatical affixes, such as -s, -ed and -ing. I felt that it was vital for students to get a solid grasp of their tenses so that they have a clear idea of the time references / orientation in regard to time. However, my colleague felt that time should be devoted to highlighting various common affixes, such as -ful, -ly and -ness, so that students are empowered to unpack the meaning of unfamiliar words (when they understand the meaning of affixes).

I would like to convince my colleague to spend more time and energy on the grammatical affixes. Hence, could any enlightened educator out there give me convincing reasons as to why students should know their tenses well?

Thank you for your time!