>>>I mean you don't have to nest them. This works the same, and is easier to read.
>>>

>>>sele a.pn ;
>>>   from pnvendor a;
>>>      left join inv b on a.pn = b.pn ;
>>>      left join Table3 on b.KeyField = Table3.KeyField ;
>>>   where [SomeCondition]
>>>

>>
>>This will join tables 1 and 2, and tables 1 and 3.
>>
>>My second example joined tables 1 and 2, and tables 2 and 3.
>
>Actually, it does join 1 and 2, 2 and 3 : pnvendor [a] to inv [b] and inv [b] to table3.

What??? That really looks strange to me - not the way I am accustomed. It seems I will have to do some experimenting on this.