"England-born" or "English-born"

Question

Which of the two statements is correct?

He was an English-born businessman.

He was an England-born businessman.

The same confusion arises in India-born and Indian-born as well. Moreover, is a hyphen necessary in these examples?

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 17 '12 at 20:28

6

"England-born" is perfectly understandable, but I don't think a native English speaker would say it. "English-born" is a conventional expression.

The question about hyphens has no single answer: it depends whose style guide you are following.

answered Mar 17 '12 at 20:28

Colin Fine

Thanks @Colin. Reg. the style-guide, is there any other question on this forum that talks about that? – Bravo Mar 17 '12 at 20:33
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This question discusses that and provides a link to what I consider to be some good advice in that regard. – Jim Mar 17 '12 at 21:00
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@Shyam: In this specific case I think it would be an unusual style guide that suggested writing "English born" as two separate words. It's nearly always hyphenated. Sometimes just written as a single word with no hyphen - but that's even less common than the two-word form. – FumbleFingers Mar 17 '12 at 21:45

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 19 '12 at 08:46

0

They mean two different things. "English-born" means born with English nationality. "England-born" means born in England. Neither implies the other.

And "England-born" would probably be more commonly phrased "Born in England".

answered Mar 19 '12 at 08:46

Paul Richter

2 Answers2