asyndeton in speech

Question

If I said, "This business deal will be a success a victory a triumph if we are able to secure the contract."

Is it clear that the "if" clause applies to "This business deal with be a success a victory a triumph."

Or if one were to hear those words, would they think that the "if" clause only applies to "a triumph"?

My understanding is that the "if" is a subordinating conjunction that has to connect a dependent clause and a independent clause. Therefore, it is erroneous to conclude that the "if" conditional clause only applies to "a triumph" since "a triumph" is not a clause but rather just a noun and an article. Is my reasoning correct?

I would greatly appreciate some clarity on this question.

Answer 1

First, the sentence should be punctuated as follows

"This business deal will be a success, a victory, a triumph, if we are able to secure the contract."

In this construction, victory and triumph are appositives of success.

or

"This business deal will be a success--a victory, a triumph--if we are able to secure the contract."

Victory and triumph are parenthetical.

or

"This business deal will be a success, a victory, and a triumph if we are able to secure the contract."

Here success, victory, and triumph are different things the deal will accomplish "if we are able to secure the contract."

However the sentence is punctuated, the subordinate clause "if we are able to secure the contract," applies to the entire independent clause, "This business deal will be a success . . ."

https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/subordinate_clause.htm