Writing for Business - A Whatis.com Blog

Mar 25 2010   1:08PM GMT

Borne out or born out?



Posted by: Ivy Wigmore
born out or borne out, Business writing, CIO, commonly misspelled words, energy, grammar, perpetual motion, Quiz

Which is correct?
Claims of perpetual motion devices that would create clean, free energy have never been ______ out.
a. borne
b. born


Answer: a.

Explanation:
Borne out means proven.

Paul Brians explains another confusing born/borne issue here:

Write “my love of dance was born of my viewing old Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire movies,” not “born out of.” The latter expression is probably substituted because of confusion with the expression “borne out” as in “my concerns about having another office party were borne out when Mr. Peabody spilled his beer into the fax machine.” The only correct (if antiquated) use of “born out of” is in the phrase “born out of wedlock.”

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