The semicolon, on the contrary, says that the group of words to follow is of equal rank with the whole group which has preceded the mark; and it thus shows how the sentence is to develop. The next semicolon in No. 6 says to the reader that a series of semicolon-divided groups is under way. This makes easy reading up to the colon, which, being followed by “but,” is to mark the extent of the but relation between what is to follow and what has preceded. The meaning of the colon, as learned from its original use, tells the reader that the sentence is divided into members, or “limbs”; and therefore the but relation here is between all that precedes and all that is to follow, for these groups constitute the limbs of the sentence. If what follows the colon was to be tied to less than all that precedes, the but relation could extend only to the last semicolon, thus completing this particular group. It is very evident that the but relation could not terminate in the midst of language tied together as are the groups preceding “but” in this sentence; and yet many good writers use the semicolon, instead of the colon, in sentences like this, probably, however, without considering what grouping is thus made.
The entire sentence is divided into two groups by the colon, as the sense relation manifestly requires. If we change the order of the two larger groups in No. 6, the colon will be the first mark reached by the reader; and it will give him notice of what is to follow:
6-2. Athens’ intellectual empire is imperishable: but her freedom and her powers have, for more than twenty centuries, been annihilated ...
Here the colon, if challenged for its meaning, would say that all that follows it in the sentence is to form one group in the but relation to all that precedes, with the further information that what follows is to be divided into groups by semicolons, thus requiring the colon to divide the sentence into two main parts. A semicolon at this point would have given another reply, and would not have been followed by other semicolons.
Probably the beginner in the study of punctuation will not fully comprehend this discussion of Sentence 6 and its modifications; but the discussion may throw some additional light on the disjunctive and grouping office of the four marks, including the period at the end of the sentence.
We will now consider a sentence in which the grouping, with its consequent punctuation, is at once very simple and very subtle. It is subtle because it is based upon the subtle meanings of the language; and yet it becomes very simple when the language is understood:
7. The following are the names of the Deity and of Jesus Christ:
1. Jehovah, Lord, God Almighty; Creator, Father, Preserver, Governor; the Supreme Being; the Holy Spirit.
2. The Messiah, the Anointed; the Son, the Savior, the Redeemer; the Holy One; Prophet, Teacher, Master; Judge of the World.
Commas would be sufficient here to indicate what word or group of words constitutes a name; but there is additional information in the grouping of names which the writer desires to convey, and which, perhaps, would not appear to many readers if attention were not directed to it by proper grouping, which is done here by semicolons. It will be seen that the number of names in a group in the above example varies from one to four.