I think this might have been better asked as 'what is the correct query to return the results we want?', instead of asking what return values would be possible (which I'd argue is bad form without first specifying that values are actually in the db in the first place).

Another potential way to get the same point across might have been to present us with several values in datetime format and ask which one will never appear in a db using the older (pre sql2008) datetime datatype..

Also illustrative is to use a bit of script to play with string values and see how they convert to datetime

[font="Courier New"]DECLARE @dt VARCHAR(22)

SET @dt = '20090131 23:59:59.999'

SELECT CAST(@dt AS DATETIME)[/font]

that results in [font="Courier New"]2009-02-01 00:00:00.000[/font] if you run it.

(edited to read a bit more clearly)

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not a DBA just a QA guy who enjoys learning more about SQL