<p>A quick aside for some brief, if complex, family history: This man is Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti, one of Dante’s political allies.</p>
<p>While reading Dante’s Inferno on shmoop, I saw this line and felt dazed. what does “if complex” mean in that sentence. the family history is brief if it is complex?</p>
<p>It means that even though the family history is brief, it’s complex. That sentence is problematic on the SAT, though, since a colon must be preceded by an independent clause on the SAT.</p>
<p>@marvin100 Can you change the syntax of the sentence so that it means what it sounds to be?For “A quick aside for some brief family history”, “if complex” doesn’t sound like what its meaning sounds like. </p>
<p>What is “if complex” modifying? Is “if complex” an adverbial phrase or adjectival phrase?</p>
<p>It’s a parenthetical phrase called an ‘aside,’ used for clarification. Not essential to the meaning of the sentence. In this case ‘if’ is synonymous with ‘although.’ </p>
<p>A quick aside for some brief (although complex) family history: This man is Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti, one of Dante’s political allies.</p>
<p>Brief is supposed to refer to the passage itself in that it is brief, that it is just a quick aside. Complex is supposed to define the family history being described in a brief passage. The problem you are likely having is that the sentence is really non-sensical if you only read the sentence given since what comes after the collon says absolutely nothing about a family history. I do not know what, if anything, might come after the sentence you give but if it is “brief” in the sense of not being too long a written passage and describes a complex family history then it would make sense. For example, the sentence itself would make sense if it said something like the following: “A quick aside for some brief, if complex, family history: Dante’s mother was married three times and had children by each husband.” That is a brief passage (a quick aside) that describes a complex family history.</p>