What information does this grouping convey, and upon what is the grouping based? The words in the first group are the primary terms for the Deity (Exodus vi, 2, 3); in the second group, the names of the Deity which express His relation to man; etc.
The next sentence shows a similar grouping, but a grouping based upon more familiar and more marked characteristics of the things grouped:
7-1. Among the chief products of Minnesota are the following: wheat, corn, and oats; potatoes, beets, beans, etc.; butter and cheese; lumber; iron; etc.
The semicolon grouping here needs no explanation, although the use of a mark at one point in the sentence may seem at variance with the punctuation at another point. In the second group a comma is used before “etc.”; and at the end of the sentence a semicolon precedes “etc.” The punctuation is consistent with the uses of the two marks in other parts of the sentence. In the second group the comma says the group is not complete; and therefore “etc.” stands for unexpressed items of the group, such, for instance, as peas. The last semicolon indicates to the reader that there are other groups; for instance, cattle, sheep, and hogs might constitute a group.
Many readers pass over punctuation of this kind; and they do not understand, or seek to understand, the meaning of such grouping as that in No. 7, while, because of its simplicity, that in No. 7-1 scarcely attracts their attention.
In the next sentence the grouping is informing and somewhat striking. The sentence, with a slight modification, is taken from a U. S. Census Report:
7-2. I have the honor to transmit herewith statistical tables of mortality; the insane, feeble-minded, deaf and dumb, and blind; crime, pauperism, and benevolence; education; churches; foreign-born population; and manufactures.
The third group in this sentence is particularly striking, for it suggests the relationship between crime and pauperism, and the consequent private effort, in the form of benevolence, to deal with a social condition with which every government must deal.
Thus in Sentence 7-2 the grouping by semicolons imparts information which might be readily overlooked.