In No. 28 we “dined royally” or “supped royally”; in No. 28-1 “we dined” or “we supped royally.”
The punctuation is correct in each example; but the mode of expressing the meaning conveyed by No. 28-1 is rather fantastic.
29. The defendant, Baker, was a party to the contract.
29-1. Defendant Baker was a party to the contract.
30. The difficulty of defining the word vulgarity precisely, arises from the fact that, like most vehement and expressive words, it covers a large variety of meanings, and is tinged with different kinds of contempt.
CHAPTER IV
GROUPING DONE BY THE SEMICOLON AND THE COLON
Thus far in our discussion we have considered grouping done by commas only, except incidentally in Sentences 6, 6-2, 7, 7-1, and 7-2. We shall now consider the application of our fundamental principle to grouping that requires the semicolon and the colon.
Our first illustrative sentence (No. 20) is from a distinguished writer, noted for the “infinite care he gives to his diction.” We think the sentence decidedly distracting: