A good close punctuator omits commas from all such groups of words; and a poor open punctuator does the same, but also improperly omits commas and semicolons in many other places.
One doing serious composition, or studying punctuation, may well punctuate closely as he writes, and afterwards remove all marks whose omission will improve the grouping and not violate good convention. The close punctuator who studiously omits a mark only when he has a reason to do so will rarely fail to use marks helpfully; the open punctuator who omits marks too freely will write much obscure language and much more whose meaning is not readily obtainable by the reader.
With this general principle established, the punctuator can readily determine what marks may be omitted; and, far more important, he can adapt to his own language the style of punctuation he prefers to follow.
The punctuation of our next sentence, taken from an editorial in a recent issue of the New York Times, has interest for both the close and the open punctuator. It contains seven commas, only one of which can safely be omitted, while two more are needed. The comma after “divisions” may be omitted, but its use is good punctuation. One is needed after “music,” in order to show that “and” is followed by the closing word of a series; and one is imperative after “exhibition,” to show that what follows is an explanatory, and not a restrictive, adjective modifier:
134. There are in this issue eight separate sections, including, besides the twelve pages of timely pictures, beautifully executed in roto-gravure and half-tone, and the ample news and editorial divisions, and those devoted to sports, social affairs, music and the stage, a twenty-page section given up entirely to the development of the motor car in view of the yearly automobile exhibition which receives so large a share of public attention.
The punctuator who follows the fundamental principles we have endeavored to set forth, will be neither a close nor an open punctuator: he will be a judicious punctuator.
EXAMPLES
The following selections, copied from the first edition of this book, show the value of good punctuation, which, in this instance, is fairly close punctuation.
The first selection is an extract from Macaulay, picturing Burke’s knowledge of India; the second is from an article by Mr. Rowland E. Robinson, in the Atlantic Monthly for December, 1895. The punctuation of the first is our own; the punctuation of the second is either the author’s or the editor’s.
A careful study of these selections, with a view to comparing at what points the punctuation is open and at what points close, cannot fail to be of interest. For instance, what is the meaning of the language in the first paragraph of the second extract (A New England Woodpile) with a comma after “certainty,” and what would be the meaning without the comma? Wherein does the punctuation of this extract depart from the principles we have been discussing?