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Which of the following sentences sound natural? I think the second sentence sounds a lot more natural and I suppose the first sentence would be a bit odd. Am I correct?

Which country does pasta belong to?

What country does paste originate from /come from?

Thanks for reading.

jeepers
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    An even more idiomatic sentence would be Where does pasta come from? Most people will understand that you're talking about the country; if they don't, they will ask. – Jason Bassford Aug 15 '18 at 19:11
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    I think the second sentence sounds a lot more natural and I suppose the first sentence would be a bit odd. Am I correct?

    Yes, I'd say so as a native en-CA speaker

     – wrymug Aug 15 '18 at 19:59

2 Answers2

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When I see "belong to" I think about money. "This money belongs to me because I earned it". Food (pasta) on the other hand belongs to the one who made it in their own kitchen or wherever. But the idea can originate from some country. So you are right, the second sentence sounds more natural.

Megoh
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'Belong to' means being owned by. So if you made the pasta in your kitchen, it belongs to you.

'Originate from' means to happen for the first time ever. So wherever pasta was made the first time, that's where it originated from. So this is more natural.

Side note- You can belong to any person. You originated from your parents. It's as simple as that for pasta too.

User12345
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  • Welcome to English Language & Usage. You might not know that this site is a bit different from other Q&A sites: an answer is expected to be authoritative, detailed, and explain why it is correct - preferably by quoting a reference (e.g. dictionary definition) hyperlinked to the source. Your post is actually a comment rather than an answer. For further guidance, see [Answer]. I can also recommend taking the [Tour]. :-) – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Sep 13 '18 at 09:03
  • To earn points, why not improve your answer (use the [edit] link) by using dictionary definitions for "belong" and "originate" to explain which sentence is best. Don't forget to add links to the sources. Each upvote earns you 10 pts, and you might get a "tick" from the questioner (+15 pts). A popular answer can get 10 upvotes or more - see here, here or here for some questions with popular answers. I'll happily upvote an answer that shows some effort :-) – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Sep 13 '18 at 11:21
  • I edited it. Is it good enough now? – User12345 Sep 13 '18 at 13:29