75. This is a large wild grape.
75-1. This is a large, wild grape.
The punctuation is correct in each of the above sentences; but the two sentences do not mean the same.
Sentence No. 75 says that the grape is a large one in the class of wild grapes, confining the comparison to wild grapes.
Sentence No. 75-1 says that the grape is large and is wild. It is large in comparison with all kinds of grapes.
In No. 75 we give the language its natural meaning. In No. 75-1 we use a comma to show that the natural meaning is not the meaning we wish to convey; we disconnect “large” from “wild grape,” as, in Sentence 1-1, we disconnected words standing in an apparent relation which was not the real relation.
Other examples at the end of this chapter will further illustrate the punctuation.
DOUBLE OBJECT
We have already seen that nouns standing together require some mark between them if their apparent relation is not their real relation. This principle was illustrated especially in Sentence 8-1.
The so-called double object furnishes an apparent exception to the principle. The relation, however, between such words is as regular as the relation between an adjective and a noun when the former precedes the latter. Thus the following sentence requires no mark between the nouns constituting a so-called double object:
76. They elected John Smith president.