On December 23, 2024, the Department of Education (DepEd) issued DepEd Order No. 022, s. 2024 , providing comprehensive guidelines for class and work suspension during disasters and emergencies. This order reaffirms DepEd’s commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of learners, teachers, and personnel while emphasizing the importance of learning continuity during such events. Key Highlights of DepEd Order No. 022, s. 2024 1. Rationale DepEd upholds its dual mandate of safeguarding the welfare of learners and personnel while maintaining academic continuity. This policy recognizes: The vulnerability of disaster-prone areas. The necessity of adopting flexible learning modalities, such as modular or online learning, during in-person class suspensions. The importance of balancing safety and academic progress. 2. Scope The guidelines are mandatory for: All public schools. DepEd-operated Community Learning Centers under the Alternative Learning System (ALS). Private schools and educati...
Understanding how words evolve is key to mastering any language. Root words, as you’ve learned in earlier lessons, are the foundation of many English vocabulary terms. These roots often originate from Latin, Greek, or other ancient tongues and carry a core meaning that survives across centuries. But roots rarely stay untouched. Over time, they are enhanced by affixes—word parts added to the beginning or end of a base word—that significantly alter their form and meaning.
Let’s dive deeper into how affixes transform base words and help you derive meaning from even the most complex vocabulary. 🌱➡️🌳
🚀 What Are Affixes and Why Are They Important in Vocabulary Building?
An affix is a meaningful word part that attaches to a base or root word. There are two main kinds of affixes: prefixes, which are added to the beginning of a word, and suffixes, which are attached at the end. These parts are not just grammatical accessories—they are essential tools for deducing the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Take the word “unfair”. The base word is “fair,” meaning just or equitable. Adding the prefix “un-”, which means “not,” flips the meaning entirely. The result: “not fair.” This process is the essence of affixation. By understanding affixes, you unlock the meanings of thousands of words in context.
For example, once you know that “bene-” means good, you can infer the positivity in words like benevolent and benediction. Similarly, if you encounter “mal-”, which means bad or evil, you’ll expect a negative connotation in words like malfunction or malicious.
🧠 How Prefixes Enhance and Shift the Meaning of Words
A prefix is a group of letters placed at the start of a word. It subtly or significantly shifts the meaning of the root to which it is attached. Importantly, it doesn't change the part of speech, but it does change interpretation.
For example:
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“Disobey” → the prefix “dis-” means opposite of or not, making the meaning “not obey.”
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“Catastrophe” → from the prefix “cata-” meaning down or against, implies something that has turned downward or gone terribly wrong.
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“Transport” → the prefix “trans-” means across, suggesting movement from one place to another.
By internalizing common prefixes, students and language learners gain an intuitive grasp of a word’s tone, direction, or status.
✂️ The Role of Suffixes in Defining Word Function and Meaning
Unlike prefixes, suffixes are often responsible for changing a word’s grammatical role—like turning a verb into a noun or an adjective into an adverb. This is especially crucial for academic writing, where precision matters.
Take these examples:
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“Achievement” uses the suffix “-ment”, which denotes the act or state of something, transforming the verb “achieve” into a noun.
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“Careless” contains the suffix “-less”, meaning without, modifying the noun “care” into an adjective that means lacking concern.
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“Physics” and “optics” use the suffix “-ics”, indicating fields of study or areas of expertise.
Suffixes like “-ist” and “-ism” denote belief systems or people who follow them—words like buddhist, communist, or realism arise from this system of suffixation.
Understanding suffixes improves your ability to analyze, write, and interpret language more accurately.
🔎 Analyzing Words through Affixes: A Practical Strategy
Let’s take a deeper look into how analyzing affixes leads to better comprehension.
Imagine encountering the word “anesthetic”. If you recognize the prefix “an-”, which means without, and know that the root “esthetic” refers to feeling or sensation, you can figure out that “anesthetic” means “without feeling.” This decoding is a core reading skill, especially useful for deciphering scientific and academic texts.
Similarly, take “sympathy”:
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Prefix: “sym-” means with or together
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Root: “pathy” comes from the Greek “pathos,” meaning feeling
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Meaning: Feeling together with someone—thus, compassion.
These insights don't just make you a better reader—they make you a critical thinker in language.
🎯 Final Thoughts: Empowering Language Learning Through Affixes
Affixes are not just abstract linguistic concepts. They are powerful tools that bring clarity to complex words and expand your vocabulary exponentially. Whether you are a student, teacher, or lifelong learner, understanding affixes strengthens your reading comprehension, vocabulary retention, and writing fluency.
The next time you come across a word you don’t know, break it apart. Ask: “What prefix is here? What suffix?” From there, you’ll find that even unfamiliar words are not as foreign as they first seem. 📘
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