I think a colon would be the most apt punctuation here.
The tracks are now unruly and wild, the people tied to them: killed in crosswalks
But to be honest I was fine with no punctuation. The bit that most bothers me is the choice of preposition. You don’t go in a crosswalk. You go on it. Or maybe you’re at the crosswalk when you’re killed. But certainly not in.
Grammar has so many “technically correct” yet odd sentence structures.
The sentence definitely has a weird flow and could absolutely contain reader assistance via punctuation.
A comma maybe, then.
‘the people once tied to them killed in a crosswalk’ really sounds weird to me.
Heck, my phone agrees.
I think a colon would be the most apt punctuation here.
But to be honest I was fine with no punctuation. The bit that most bothers me is the choice of preposition. You don’t go in a crosswalk. You go on it. Or maybe you’re at the crosswalk when you’re killed. But certainly not in.
In (the area of) a crosswalk would make sense?
That said, not English native speaker.
Seems like a stylistic choice to me. Leaving out the “have been” makes it sound more poetic, but I don’t think it’s wrong per se
Not a native speaker but for me it sounds fine. The “are now” is left out because it would be repeated if that makes sense.
“The people, [who were] tied to them, [are now] killed in a crosswalk.”
You’re missing “once”
So that’s the missing word everyone is bothered by. It wasn’t in the post but in a low level comment. What an unexpected but well executed pay-off!
Grammar has so many “technically correct” yet odd sentence structures.
The sentence definitely has a weird flow and could absolutely contain reader assistance via punctuation.