Question

which sentence is punctuated correctly?
my father loved talking about history, particularly: the civil war, the cold war, and the revolutionary war.
there were several scientific processes i wanted to learn about such as, photosynthesis, diffusion, and osmosis.
the only states that marina had yet to visit were: colorado, wyoming, north dakota, and rhode island.
when studying mythology, i learned about several gods and goddesses: zeus, apollo, aphrodite, hermes, and hercules.

Explanation:

1. In the first option, "particularly" is not a proper word to be followed by a colon. A colon should follow an independent clause that precedes a list, and "particularly" makes the clause dependent - like a comma - style addition.
2. In the second option, "such as" should not be followed by a comma. It directly introduces the list.
3. In the third option, a colon after "were" is incorrect as the clause before it is not a complete thought that is setting up the list; it's more of a verb - object connection.
4. In the fourth option, the clause "When studying mythology, I learned about several gods and goddesses" is a complete independent clause, and the colon correctly introduces the list of gods and goddesses.

Answer:

When studying mythology, I learned about several gods and goddesses: Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Hercules.