Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing; Eric Rudolph in bombing the Olympics in Atlanta; the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001: all of these events have one crucial similarity; attacks on our homeland.
Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing; Eric Rudolph in bombing the Olympics in Atlanta; the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001: all of these events have one crucial similarity; attacks on our homeland.
Definitely not
Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing, Eric Rudolph in the Atlanta Olympics bombing and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001 all have one crucial similarity; attacks on our homeland.
There.
Not even close. It should read:
“Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, Eric Rudolph and the Olympics bombing in Atlanta, and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001 all have one crucial similarity: they were attacks on our homeland.”
http://www.essortment.com/all/semicolon_…
http://www.myenglishteacher.net/USINGCOL…
Check out the above links; they will help you understand proper uses of the colon, semicolon, & comma. =)
I would use commas to separate your list instead, like this:
Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing, Eric Rudolph in bombing the Olympics in Atlanta, and the Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001 all have one crucial similarity: attacks on our homeland.
Or you could apply what you learned from the first link & use commas to seperate items within your list & use the semicolons as the “super commas” like this:
Timothy McVeigh, Oklahoma City bombing; Eric Rudolph, Olympics bombing in Atlanta; and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001 all have one crucial similarity: attacks on our homeland.
A colon is used after an independent clause or complete idea. So make sure the thought before the colon can stand alone as a sentence.
Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing, Eric Rudolph in the Atlanta Olympics bombing and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001 all have one crucial similarity; attacks on our homeland.
The above answer would need a comma separating the two different items in the list. (Atlanta Olympics bombing, and the terrorist attacks…) Secondly, the semicolon should be a colon because a semicolon separates two independent clauses. “Attacks on our homeland” cannot stand alone; therefore, a colon should be used.
http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Colloquial-(Informal)-Writing
It seems to me that you’re putting the emphasis on the individuals to start with but at the end of the sentence, the events.
I’d be inclined simply to list the events:
The Oklahoma City bombing, the bombing of the Olympics in Atlanta, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in 1993 and 2001: All of these events have one crucial similarity; attacks on our homeland.
Or add to the end … perpetrated by x,y,z … if indeed there is a similarity between the individuals, such as nationality, motives, etc.