Question

The path through the park had been worn smooth by countless visitors,fill in the blank, by tribes of passing children, by families with picnic baskets, by hikers with their dogs.
Question
What version of the text is correctly punctuated?

Answer Options with 4 options
1. The path through the park had been worn smooth by countless visitors, by tribes of passing children, by families with picnic baskets, by hikers with their dogs.
2. The path through the park had been worn smooth by countless visitors; by tribes of passing children, by families with picnic baskets, by hikers with their dogs.
3. The path through the park had been worn smooth by countless visitors: by tribes of passing children, by families with picnic baskets, by hikers with their dogs.
4. The path through the park had been worn smooth by countless visitors. By tribes of passing children, by families with picnic baskets, by hikers with their dogs.

Answer 1

The correct answer is 3. The path through the park had been worn smooth by countless visitors: by tribes of passing children, by families with picnic baskets, by hikers with their dogs.
In the example above, you need to use a colon to separate these two parts of the sentence. The reason why you should use a colon instead of a comma is because you are listing these 'countless visitors,' including children, families, and hikers. So you are creating a list of people and animals who visit the park, and in order to do that, you ought to use a colon instead of a comma.