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Would you please tell which one of the following questions sounds more natural to you?

What chance do you give Usyk beats Joshua a second time?

What chance do you give Usyk beating Joshua a second time?

If neither is natural, how would you phrase it?

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2 Answers 2

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The first sentence is impossible. "Beats" is conjugated to the present simple tense, which means it must have a subject and be the head of a clause. "Usyk" is the apparent subject, but it's also the object of "give". It cannot be both at once.

The second sentence is arguably ungrammatical, and while you might hear people say it in casual conversation, it's not idiomatic.

The correct structure here is: [ "give" + object + "a chance to" + base-form-verb ]

So the correct phrasing is, "What chance do you give Usyk to beat Joshua a second time?"

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I don't like the sound of any of the two and would suggest to use:

What chance do you give Usyk to beat Joshua a second time?

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  • Vickel, I've noticed you giving lots of answers, but little in the way of explanation or reference. Simply correcting or rephrasing a sample phrase isn't a good quality answer. If you could explain why your version is correct, or why your rephrasing is preferable, that would make your answers higher quality. Thanks!
    – gotube ♦
    Dec 31, 2021 at 6:48

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