if not vs or else

if not

adv
  • Used to link a semantically weaker word to a semantically stronger word following the adverb, both sharing the same basic meaning, indicating the increased likelihood of the former. 

or else

phrase
  • No matter what (implies an unspecified threat). 

conj
  • Otherwise or as an alternative. 

How often have the words if not and or else occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )