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At about 4:54 into a video (the link starts at 4:49), the speaker says

If you have out of six attempts, you're choosing two of them to have scores, how many ways are there?

Is the sentence complete and grammatically correct.

Is the "if you have" part extra? In other words, does the following sound more natural than the original one?

Out of six attempts, you're choosing two of them to have scores, how many ways are there?

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  • It is just a mis-speaking. I don't think this is grammatical, but we can understand what is meant.
    – James K
    Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 8:12
  • @JamesK Thank you. So, my version is complete and grammatically correct, right?
    – WXJ96163
    Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 8:28
  • @WXJ96163 Your version has a comma splice, meaning you've joined two independent clauses with a comma: "you're choosing two of them to have scores" and "How many ways are there?" Either separate them with a period, or choose a conjunction to join them. "If" at the beginning of the sentence seems the most natural, if this is a test question.
    – gotube
    Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 14:25

1 Answer 1

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The auto-caption function is not helping, neither is the modern trend to use an ellipsis show cut off speech rather than a dash as was used in the past.

When I rewrite it like this:

Well, how—

If you have—

Out of six attempts you're choosing two of them to have scores: how many ways are there?

You can see that he has started three sentences, but two of them he cut off after only two or three words as his thoughts progressed.

So the way suggested in the question doesn't so much sound more natural as it is sounds comprehensible by being better structured. Note that I have used different punctuation. Commas are poorly used in English but that's rather beyond the scope of this question.

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