w3c/csswg-drafts — pull request #4 by estelle (2014-12-21 01:40:14+00:00)
Title: Clarification for an example

However, the span element is not in fact broken in two for the purposes of styling.

If the span had a border or background image, and the browser acted as if the element were closed and reopened, a no-repeat background image would be displayed twice. or, if a border were present, the border would be closed and reopened.