American Horror Story Wiki
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American Horror Story Wiki


Be aware that while AHS is (by definition) an American show, the fans and contributors may not be. You may see unfamiliar terms, grammar, and spelling variants from all over the English speaking world. As a counterpoint, these may be altered to terms more familiar to Americans. For example: "Ginger" hair is far less commonly used in the US than "red", and may be changed accordingly for the broadest audience. Grammarist and Comparison of American and British English can be used as guides.

Changes to usage of mainstream American English do sometimes occur. One such change, reflected in textbooks and news media, is a drop in the punctuation following abbreviated honorifics. As such, some contributors use "Mrs. Harmon", whereas others use "Dr Arden". This wiki makes no specific recommendation as to which to use at this time.

Comments and other non-English contributions are not discouraged. Using a translator to see what others have written is free. Where there are a lot of fans in a non-English, they should also be encouraged to start a sister community on Wikia. Contact an admin to discuss interlinking or starting a non-English American Horror Story community.

Spelling[]

  • Ax vs Axe: Ax is used more commonly in America. Grammarist.

Grammar[]

  • One is a character or an actor in (not on) a fiction series or episode. An actor appears on (not in) a news or talk show if they're not playing a role.
  • The series or episode is broadcast (not broadcasted or aired) on a network. They are not "aired", because FX, a cable network, does not go over the airwaves. Digital streams or downloads are similarly "streamed", "distributed", or as a blanket term "broadcast".

Capitalization[]

  • Each word of a proper noun, including any honorifics, is capitalized. (Monsignor Timothy Howard)
  • The first letter in a sentence is capitalized.
  • Unless one of the first two rules is true, common nouns are rarely capitalized.

Punctuation[]

  • Period, or full stop, should be used at the end of a declarative sentence.
  • Periods after honorifics are increasingly optional in modern usage. There is some contention about this.
  • Commas set apart list items, equal adjectives, and portions of dates and geographical names (by order of magnitude); They also separate clauses, some adverbs, parenthetical phrases, vocatives, and inline quotes.

Terms[]

e.g. (or eg.)
Abbreviation of Latin exemplī grātiā ("for example").
i.e. (or ie.)
Abbreviation of Latin id est ("that is"); in other words; that is to say.
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