diff --git a/source/reference/conditionals.rst b/source/reference/conditionals.rst
index 17d32cc8..71437f7e 100644
--- a/source/reference/conditionals.rst
+++ b/source/reference/conditionals.rst
@@ -21,6 +21,12 @@ constructs you've probably seen in traditional programming languages.
 If ``if`` is valid, ``then`` must also be valid (and ``else`` is ignored.) If
 ``if`` is invalid, ``else`` must also be valid (and ``then`` is ignored).
 
+If ``then`` or ``else`` is not defined, ``if`` behaves as if they have a value
+of ``true``.
+
+If ``then`` and/or ``else`` appear in a schema without ``if``, ``then`` and
+``else`` are ignored.
+
 We can put this in the form of a truth table, showing the combinations of when
 ``if``, ``then``, and ``else`` are valid and the resulting validity of the
 entire schema:
@@ -28,13 +34,11 @@ entire schema:
 ==== ==== ==== ============
 if   then else whole schema
 ==== ==== ==== ============
-          X    X
-     X          
-     X    X    X
-X               
-X         X     
-X    X         X
-X    X    X    X
+T    T    n/a  T
+T    F    n/a  F
+F    n/a  T    T
+F    n/a  F    F
+     n/a  n/a  T
 ==== ==== ==== ============
 
 For example, let's say you wanted to write a schema to handle addresses in the
@@ -54,6 +58,7 @@ letters and numbers alternate.
           "type": "string"
         },
         "country": {
+          "default": "United States of America",
           "enum": ["United States of America", "Canada"]
         }
       },
@@ -63,7 +68,7 @@ letters and numbers alternate.
       "then": {
         "properties": { "postal_code": { "pattern": "[0-9]{5}(-[0-9]{4})?" } }
       },
-      "else": { 
+      "else": {
         "properties": { "postal_code": { "pattern": "[A-Z][0-9][A-Z] [0-9][A-Z][0-9]" } }
       }
     }
@@ -72,7 +77,12 @@ letters and numbers alternate.
       "street_address": "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW",
       "country": "United States of America",
       "postal_code": "20500"
-    } 
+    }
+    --
+    {
+      "street_address": "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW",
+      "postal_code": "20500"
+    }
     --
     {
       "street_address": "24 Sussex Drive",
@@ -85,6 +95,20 @@ letters and numbers alternate.
       "country": "Canada",
       "postal_code": "10000"
     }
+    --X
+    {
+      "street_address": "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW",
+      "postal_code": "K1M 1M4"
+    }
+
+.. note::
+
+    In this example, "country" is not a required property. Because the "if"
+    schema also doesn't require the "country" property, it will pass and the
+    "then" schema will apply. Therefore, if the "country" property is not
+    defined, the default behavior is to validate "postal_code" as a USA postal
+    code. The "default" keyword doesn't have an effect, but is nice to include
+    for readers of the schema to more easily recognize the default behavior.
 
 Unfortunately, this approach above doesn't scale to more than two countries. You
 can, however, wrap pairs of ``if`` and ``then`` inside an ``allOf`` to create
@@ -102,6 +126,7 @@ to the remaining postal codes of the world.
           "type": "string"
         },
         "country": {
+          "default": "United States of America",
           "enum": ["United States of America", "Canada", "Netherlands"]
         }
       },
@@ -116,7 +141,8 @@ to the remaining postal codes of the world.
         },
         {
           "if": {
-            "properties": { "country": { "const": "Canada" } }
+            "properties": { "country": { "const": "Canada" } },
+            "required": ["country"]
           },
           "then": {
             "properties": { "postal_code": { "pattern": "[A-Z][0-9][A-Z] [0-9][A-Z][0-9]" } }
@@ -124,7 +150,8 @@ to the remaining postal codes of the world.
         },
         {
           "if": {
-            "properties": { "country": { "const": "Netherlands" } }
+            "properties": { "country": { "const": "Netherlands" } },
+            "required": ["country"]
           },
           "then": {
             "properties": { "postal_code": { "pattern": "[0-9]{4} [A-Z]{2}" } }
@@ -137,7 +164,12 @@ to the remaining postal codes of the world.
       "street_address": "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW",
       "country": "United States of America",
       "postal_code": "20500"
-    } 
+    }
+    --
+    {
+      "street_address": "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW",
+      "postal_code": "20500"
+    }
     --
     {
       "street_address": "24 Sussex Drive",
@@ -156,5 +188,24 @@ to the remaining postal codes of the world.
       "country": "Canada",
       "postal_code": "10000"
     }
+    --X
+    {
+      "street_address": "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW",
+      "postal_code": "K1M 1M4"
+    }
+
+.. note::
+
+    The "required" keyword is necessary in the "if" schemas or they would all
+    apply if the "country" is not defined. Leaving "required" off of the
+    "United States of America" "if" schema makes it effectively the default if
+    no "country" is defined.
+
+.. note::
 
+    Even if "country" was a required field, it's still recommended to have the
+    "required" keyword in each "if" schema. The validation result will be the
+    same because "required" will fail, but not including it will add noise to
+    error results because it will validate the "postal_code" against all three
+    of the "then" schemas leading to irrelevant errors.