Select the correctly punctuated sentence.
a we will take these items a compass; a knapsack; a pick; and a canteen.
b we will take these items: a compass, a knapsack, a pick, and a canteen.

the sentence does not violate the phrase structure second rule (introduced by noam chomsky) because noun phrases consist of a determiner such as a, the or every, and a noun. in the sentence, the noun phrase the cake includes a determiner (the) and a noun (cake).

on the other hand, the first rule indicates that a sentence encloses a noun phrase, followed by a verb phrase. the example sentence can be analysed as follows:

john (n) + ate (v) + the (det) + cake (n).

what are you asking? this is gibberish.