Will Hawkins

When you read Churchills comment, you should also recall that the man was rather well-known as a humorist. Not ending a statement with a preposition is a ghost of an earlier rule about sentence construction the English inherited from the Latin language. This particular rule stems from the fact that in Latin there is a unique verb form which incorporates the preposition within the verb, so that to include a preposition in a sentence in Latin requires the selection only of the proper verb form, not the addition of another word at any location in the sentence. This makes it impossible in Latin to place the preposition at any place within the sentence, the requirement calls only and solely for the proper choice of verb form. So, when writing a sentence in English, the preposition may be inserted into the work at any place the author is comfortable with it appearing. Many authors are at ease with the preposition appearing at the end of a sentence because that is the way spoken English is used.

Now if I only could remember how to do a PM I would be interested in chatting with you as a younger writer about grammar topics. But you must remember that as an 'old fogy' my opinions may be severely out of date. In reference to 'final prepositions', I am reminded of a comment made by Churchill, I believe it was even spoken during a Parliamentary session. "A preposition is something never to end a sentence with."

Oh, dear, how gacious of you, and the old schoolteacher-troll has found nearly zero excuse to nip at your toes (and from me that probably is a statement of high praise). Many, many times in reading stories, probably by youngr authors, I have had to bite my tongue to keep from over-correcting their work. I consider those many grammatical errors I see in some works as the fault of poot instruction. I would blame them on the Covid isolation except that they were preent long before the Covid problem, so there is nothing left to blame them on but lack of education. Sometimes I do have a problem though, my grammar learning period was over 80 years ago and I find that many of the rules have changed since then, for example, I no longer panic when is see a preposition as the last word in a sentence, that used to be a sin. Even with that relaxation, I frequenly find myself rewriting a sentence to invert the word order to avoid that as it still rubs my grammar bone the wrong way. Mister Will

When I make a comment in my persona as the Old Troll I frequently forget to ask the author´s permission. Making gramatical comments on a story is just the retired teacher in me sneaking out around the corners. Some authors accept my grammatical comments in the spirit in which they are intended – one of making the work read better -- other authors quite frankly tell me to 'fuck off' -- the story is theirs to tell. If my suggestions (and that is truly what they are, suggestions) irritate you I will dive back into my cave beneath the bridge and not say anything more. But in your case, they are so few and far between --- Mister Will

In reading back over several chapters, I have discovered that a number of my comments seem to have faded into black print on a black background. This is not because I wish to hide them from you, as the author, or any of your follow-on commenters. It is a symptom of advancing age when I forget to change the set-up on my lap-top from the dark mode that I use to read the story to something else so that it shows up in either normal or dark mode. Now, if I can only remember to pick a color that will work for both (I have to reselect it every time I comment as it defaults to black-on-dark). But you have responded graciously to several of my black-on-dark comments, so obviously YOU know what to do. Please accept my ancient years as an excuse for the problem. Mister Will

The fur around her muzzle and eyes were an — The fur around her muzzle and eys was an … Okay, for only the first time in this story the Old Troll who lives under the bridge that authors must cross between creation and publication, can come out and nip at their bare toes. I am (in)famous among the authors on GA for being a 'nit-picker' on grammar, homophones and some other errors, but not punctuation – God, punctuation is a quagmire from which no author ever recovers. In this case: fur is a collective noun and therefore always uses a singular verb form, except when one is speaking of several different kinds of fur like 'mink', dog, cat, etc. Then one can say 'all animal furs… But, hey, this is the first time in reading this series that an obvious grammatical error has jumped out at me – often, especially among the younger authors on GA, the chapters are rife with the type of error that would get one's knuckles rapped with a nun's ruler. Mister Will

The Art of the Unexpected! Truly an art you have made a part of your writing. You keep denegrating your writing skills. but to me you are truly standing near the apex of the authors on GA. I am at a loss for words to descrie the 'turn-around' you have created in me alone. My opinion of 'shape-shifter' stories, at least those you are writing as been completely midified in just the last few weeks. Congratulations and thank you. Mister Will

You have created a monster …now Whoa, not a bad monster, a fascinated monster. When I first started reading this story my opinion was rather 'Ho, Hum. – shape changers -- I am totally turned around now – just as eager as the most rabid fan for the nexs issue. Your characterizations are spot on, and your pacing is perfect as well. Do not exhaust yourself, but do keep up the superb work. I do not have any acorns (no oak trees in the Brazilian Rain Firest), but I wouls be glad to send you a sample of octapus! Mister Will

As a writer myself, I am totally in awe of your ability to command the child-like wonder (mixed with apprehension) of Cyr. I can feel every emotion. Mister Will

OKAT! Niw that I have learne how to see my writing in this format I can really tell you how much I am enjoying this story. I was reluctant at first because I am not too fond of shape-shifter type stories, but you have performed a near miracle here, getting me interested in this one. Good show Mister Will

I am experimenting to find a color that is visible in this format

Does this color work or this one

cernunnos: a horned Celtic woodland god .. very appropriate choice for a deer shift-changer.

I am always at a loss when an author introduces a Trump voter into his story. How is it that (nearly) half of adults in my cuntry were so able to submerge their good upbringing and concern for the domestic and international reputation of their country to vote for a self-centered egoist like Trump, I will never understand. Now that he has been voted OUT of office, and with his overwhemingly destructive history, is he even considering running for political office again. But I guess there are enough uncaring and uneducated people in the US to consider him an idel President.

What do I have to do on my keyboard to make my 'comments' show up on the screen?

At my advanced age (88) I cannot recall any really bad memories of my highschool years, but then I went to a Military Academy (all bots at that time) so most of the straight/gay controversy normal for boys emerging as men was not a part of my school experience. I did have problems with 'fitting in' my first year there and yet elected to go back a second year to 'prove myself'. By the middle of my second year, I was having so much fun I went back for a final (tihrd year) by choice and graduated as a Captain and Valedictorian of my class. I guess you could say my school experience turned 180º in thos thee years.

And will continue to do so until there is music there.

I have the feeling that Ricks memories about the Kohler Place may turn around when he sees who is going to move in. At the moment his old memories are a definite dark curtain over the entire place. And we have the hints of the authors musical titles for the chapters – I'm lookin forward to the reading and the 'melody'.

The Kohler place – not a promising venue for a romance, but we shall see. Great start on an interesting story. I will look forward to each new chapter a it is published. Mister Will

I know that dogs should never eat chocolate … they lack some enzyme that is necessary to digest it, but I don't know if wolves lack the enzyme as well, very likely they do as they physically are similar in many ways, but a Neko is both human and cat – do cats lack that enzyme too? I will have to do some research. We have a new family of dogs here at the ranch, a mother and five puppies, so I have been doing research on caring for dogs. I guess I will have to expand my horizons a little.

Even after Devyn learns ASL, there are going to be long gaps in his ability to communicate – he may be able to read signs at all times, but paws are not suitable for signing. Perhaps during the full moon days he can type out his thoughts on the computer, though even that would be difficult with paws.

Of course I am upset by all of Jason's fears, but it is good that Devyn is there to provide him suport and perhaps after Jason gets integrated in the new school some of those fears will work themselves out through familiarity with his surroundings. At any rate, Yeolde, I am enthralled by the story and the characters. Mister Will

Are we not drawing near to the assassination of the Czar? The calendar does not stop just because George and the Tsarevich get it on together!

Alright, let me get my understanding of the characters right – we have a family consisting of a human Mother and a Father, (Richard?) whom we have not yet met, a son (Devyn) who is a werewolf/human hybrid and is much happier in his werewolf form, and an adopted orphan Neko, (Jason) who is a human-cat hybrid, if my mythology serves me, who has an injured larynx and therefor cannot speak. Did I miss any of the family members or err in judging their personalities? The one who, at this time the one who is unknown is the Father, the husband of Margaret. I am unsure of his ethnicity ,,, is he totally human or a werewolf, or even a hybrid of human/something else? Mister Will

That is one wy to reduce the reader's confusion – to kill off most of the different characters. It may decrease the opportunities for an author, but it simplifies things for a reader. Oh, one thing I have noticed in reading, Yeoldebard, you have made one grammatical error several times in this first chapter … this calls out the schoolteacher in my history. Now, if this is done to round out the creation of a character as someone to whom the use of English is difficult (a second language, perhaps), I will shut up and allow youto write as you wish, but if it is a different reason, allow me to suggest one correction. When writing the object of the sentence or the object of a preposition, one uses the objective case for pronouns, for example 'He gave the money to George and I.' is using the subjective case for the pronoun and that small error interrupts the flow of the narrative. One shoild say instead, 'He gave the money to George and me. The easy way to detect this is just to read the names referred to, but leaving the NOUN out. Then you ear will tell you which pronoun case to use, 'He gave the money to me' is correct and falls much better on the ear. There is no difference in this in the subjective and nomitive cases for the noun. Notice that this is a SUGGESTION only – you are the author and are allowed to write however you wish. To get you pissed-off at me is the last thing I would desire. So, if my suggestions, about grammar made from time to time, anger you, just tell me and I will shut up! Mister Will