SQL Server 2008: TOP 10 and distinct together

Question

As the title says, I\'m using SQL Server 2008. Apologies if this question is very basic. I\'ve only been using SQL for a few days. Right now I have the following query:

Answer 1

DISTINCT removes rows if all selected values are equal. Apparently, you have entries with the same p.id but with different pl.nm (or pl.val or pl.txt_val). The answer to your question depends on which one of these values you want to show in the one row with your p.id (the first? the smallest? any?).