select min(a.standardcost) from 
(
select distinct top 2  StandardCost
from Production.ProductCostHistory
order by standardcost desc
)a

SELECT * FROM Emp e1
WHERE 2 = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Emp e2 WHERE e1.Salary <= 
e2.Salary)

select top 2(salary) from emp_sal where
salary in (select sal from emp_sal order by sal desc)

Select * from EmpTbl Where Salary = (Select Max(Salary) from
EmpTbl Where Salary < (Select Max(Salary) from EmpTbl)

Select max(Salary) from employeetable where salary < (select
max(salary) from Employeetable)

select max(salary) from emp 
where salary<(select max(salary) from emp)

select  employeeid, employeeName ,Salary  from table1 where 
Salary =(select min(a.Salary) from table1 inner join 
(select top 2 Salary from table1 
order by Salary desc) a on table1.Salary = a.Salary)

if we change the top value we will get the n'th largest 
salary

If we had a table named Employee which had a column named 
Salary and we had to find the second highest Salary in the 
Employee table, the query for the same would be:

SELECT TOP 1 Salary FROM (SELECT TOP 2 Salary FROM Employee 
ORDER BY Salary DESC) AS E ORDER BY Salary ASC

The subquery or the inner query would return the top 2 rows 
in descending Salary order which would be:
5000
4000
The outer query would then select the top 1 row from the 
subquery results in ascending Salary order which would be:
4000