English question: are of these sentences OK?

Question

These things belong to whom?
To whom these things belong?
To whom belongs these things?
To whom belong these things?

Whose are these things?

if possible explain the reason why they're incorrect.

of course I think at least some of the sentences on the first batch must be incorrect, but I can't figure out which ones.

Answer 1

I would say the correct version is:

To whom do these things belong?

However, a lot of yours are ok:

These things belong to whom?
To whom these things belong?
To whom belong these things?
Whose are these things?

The only error you made was when you made "belongs" a plural, instead of a singular, "belong" in your question:

To whom belongs these things?

the reason that this is wrong, is that you are asking "to whom" meaning "to what person" these things belong. So it is incorrect to use "belongs" with a singular person, "to whom"

So the correct way to say this one is the way you said it right below that one:
To whom belong these things?

I have several dictionaries, and one in particular the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, 2 volume set, has all the usages of words and all their various meanings and when that meaning started, what year. As well it has the etymology of the word, which means, where did it come from. Perhaps that would help you, as it helps me. But hey, you only made one mistake, so you are doing good.

Answer 2

Must disagree with the answer above. To me, "These things belong to whom?" is a perfectly good sentence; somewhat formal, but it certainly looks like something I may well have said.

The "Whom do these things belong to?" is a strange construction. Why separate the preposition and its object by the remainder of the sentence?

The next three are all off from standard English. The last one (Whose are...) is good colloquial English. Another version that might be more common would be "Whose things are these?"

Answer 3

Whom do these things belong to? is the correct rendering, and not even on your list.

To whom do these things belong? would also be correct.

Sentence one: technically correct, but foreign sounding.
Sentence two: would be correct, but the verb "do" is missing.
Sentence three: wrong,because "these things" is plural and you are using a singular verb.
Sentence four: wrong word order. It sounds odd to the English speaker.

Answer 4

first sentence is ok
second sentence should be "to whom DO these things belong."
last two sentences have bad word order. stick with the first two

Answer 5

Yup you'll get a perfect score for sure on you test. LOL

Answer 6

yeah well done