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Technical Work For Text
Structures—If/Then
The If/Then construction is immediately recognizable on the page.
When you see it you must make it all hang together so to make sense.
Break it up and your audience will lose the thrust of your argument
and so will the other actors playing opposite you.
There is a basic logic to If/Then. It is clean. It is precise. You move
your argument forward. You propose an open idea and provide its
consequence. And when the If is separated by a clause or several
phrases from the Then, it is all the more important you help your
listeners make the connection.
Example 1
Examine this speech for two If/Then constructions. Notice how you
make more sense of this complicated speech beginning-- with all its
commas, dashes and punctuation—when you pay attention to the
structure.
MACBETH
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all-- here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'ld jump the life to come.—But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed Justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips.
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10
Macbeth
Act 1, scene 7
Notice how the 1st If/Then is readily apparent. The 2nd If/Then is less
obvious. In fact at first glance there is only an If in line 2 and no Then
to follow—or so it seems. In this case the Then is unstated, it is
unspoken. Then can easily put in parenthesis at the start of the last
line completing the construction. Keeping that in mind forces lines 2-6
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to hang together as one. Not kept in mind, lines 2-6 are a jumble and
seem to meander. Macbeth’s mind is not meandering. In fact it is
bursting trying to corral the enormity of the task at hand. And it is the
If/Then structure that does the corralling. Not only that, it clearly puts
these two scenarios in direct opposition to But in these cases, where
Macbeth weighs the other side of the question—do I go through with
the murder or not?
Example 2
Examine this speech for a variation on the If/Then construction. How
many Ifs can you find?
CASSIUS
Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear:
And since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus:
Were I a common laughter, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if you know
That I do fawn on men and hug them hard
And after scandal them, or if you know
That I profess myself in banqueting
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.
65
70
75
Julius Caesar
Act 1, Scene 2
Again, it is easy to find the first If, if you look carefully. Think about it.
Lines 70-71 are all one sentence and therefore one idea that is
composed of several smaller parts or clauses. So, the 1st If is in line
71, disguised as Were I, as in If I were. Making sure you start the
If/Then construction there pulls lines 71-77 together. The 2nd If is
unstated, unspoken—it resides between or and did, as in or if I did
use, in Line 71. The other two are obvious in lines 73 and 75. To get
through all that you will need to resist letting your voice accidentally
put a period in there anywhere. Technically, this is done by always
keeping your voice in an upglide at the commas, colons and semicolons until the period arrives. Emotionally, Cassius knows that he has
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several Ifs to present if he is to successfully convince Brutus of his
point of view.
Whenever you see an If/Then construction, don’t run away from it;
give into it, if only for the sake of clarity.