How to write an inline IF statement in JavaScript?

You don’t necessarily need jQuery. JavaScript alone will do this.

var a = 2;
var b = 3;    
var c = ((a < b) ? 'minor' : 'major');

The c variable will be minor if the value is true, and major if the value is false.

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This is known as a Conditional (ternary) Operator.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Conditional_Operator