Which one is correct? "the english players" or "the england players"?

Question

Listening to the commentators at the rugby world cup, I often here them say "the England players" or "the Scotland team". Is this correct or should they use "English" or "Scottish" instead?

Likewise, should we say "The Germany football game will be played in Berlin" or "The German football game will be played in Berlin"?

Answer 1

Both correct and interchangable.

'England players' - only those players playing the English national team. There is no reason why you can't use it, those who say it's gramatically incorrect are wrong. The noun can be used as an adjective in the same as the 'Yahoo team' can. If I'm talking with friends about how the England team have played I would use this one. If I said 'English players' that could refer to any football player in England, which is not what I mean.

'English players' - players who are English. Obviously if you are watching a game featuring the England team then there is no confusion as to who they are referring to.

**BUT**

The second set of terms is slightly different.

The 'Germany game will be played in Berlin' sounds the most natural form for a native Br. English speaker. Essentially it's just a shortening of 'the Germany vs. England (or whoever) football game will be...' If you said the 'the Germany football game' this would sound strange, probably because of the fact you had to state that football was being played then you would probably have to be explicit about which teams were involved (e.g Germany vs England)

The 'German football game' sounds like it is a different sport, possibly because of the term 'American football'. If you took out the word 'football' you could use a sentence such as 'Beckham played well in the German game' but it would have to be very clear from the context that you were talking about the Germany vs England football match.

Hope that helps

Answer 2

Nice!
Well, if England is the name of the team the sentences "the England players" and "the England team" are grammatically correct.
Let's say there is a rugby team named Yahoo. You would call them "the Yahoo team" and "the Yahoo players". Wouldn't you?

If you say "the English team" or "the English players" you are making reference of where the team/players come from leaving behind the team's name.

Both are correct depending of the context.

Answer 3

Use "the English team" or just "England" to refer to the team.

Use "English player" only if the player happens to be English. (Technically a non-English person can play on an English Team).

To refer to a player for the English team you can properly say "player for England", that would be a mouthful for, say, a play announcer to say over and over.

"England player" sounds grammatically incorrect but I think it is a useful and thus allowable way to refer to a player from a particular side. Also, I think it is the only unmistakable way to express the concept of a player for the English side.

For example if one calls a player "the Englander" or the the "English player" does it refer to the team's or the person's origin"? "England player", though it sounds a bit odd, can be understood in only one way.
-

Answer 4

English, Scottish, German

Answer 5

England is only correct when talking about the single country of England, Great Britain is the countries of England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom is Great Britain + Northern Ireland.

Answer 6

If you're talking about players who are English (from England), then 1st would be correct. If you are talking about TEAM ENGLAND, then 2nd would work as well. Like "Dodgers Player". Therefore, in the World Cup, since they are talking about Team England, they wouldn't be wrong to use either.

Answer 7

You say the English players or the players from England.

Answer 8

the word before players describes the players it it an adjective so it has to tell a quality or type of something England is a country a noun english can be an adjective so grammatically english players is correct

Answer 9

The commentators are using media speak. They can't use proper grammar is it takes to long.

The England players is a common term and everyone in the world of sport uses it so that's fine. To say it in proper grammer would mean saying: the players who play for the England team. Too long for brodcasting.

Answer 10

English players... because you would say the American players not the America players

But you wouldn't say the country name before a football game, you would say the team name, or the type... for example. the nfl game will be played in ......