Hello!!!
I would like to know if there is a difference of use between:as, such as and like???thanks a lot :D
Hm...that's a good question!
"such as" is easy -- it's followed by an example of something, for example... (or such as...)
I wanted to get a good TV, such as a Pioneer Kuro, but I didn't have enough money.
it's usually translated with "tel que" or "comme" (usually "tel que")
However, like and as are a bit more difficult to tell apart...
Like a cowboy, he rode horses quite often.
As a cowboy, he rode horses quite often.
The difference between these two sentences is very subtle. In the first sentence, "he" is not a cowboy. He is doing something "like a cowboy", meaning "in the same way as a cowboy." It's a comparison of sorts. In the second sentence, however, "he" is a cowboy. He is doing something "because he is a cowboy". Does that make sense? That's the basic difference between them. In many cases, they can both be used like this, the meanings are just a little bit different. Here is another set of examples...
As a French person, François enjoys baguettes.
Like a French person, Pablo enjoys baguettes.
I put two different names to help distinguish the sentences a little bit. In the first sentence, François enjoys baguettes because he's French. In the second sentence, Pablo enjoys baguettes in the same way that a French person would. Hopefully that helps!
If you take that difference a bit farther, you see some cases where you cannot use both, but only one of them. Here's an example...
As I didn't study for the test, I will not get a good grade.
In this case, we use "as" to mean "because". However, it doesn't make any sense to say "In the same way that I didn't study...", so we cannot use "like" here.
So there is the difference between like, as, and such as :)
Just one more little note: each of those words has other uses, as well, but I did not mention them here, because they are completely different in usage. For example...
I have as much money as him. --> J'ai autant d'argent que lui.
Also, the word "like" is often used as a space filler in English, though some people consider it bad English. You might hear a sentence such as...
Did you ever talk to him about the uh...like, the uh...that thing you were worrying about?
This is very casual, and the word "like" really has no meaning here, it's simply used to fill empty space, similarly to (or like :P ) the word "uh..." or "um..."
Very useful! Thx! :)
I was thinking about this some this morning, and I also realized that "such as" can be replaced by "like" at any point, so the first example could also be written...
I wanted to get a good TV, like a Pioneer Kuro, but I didn't have enough money.
thanks a lot for your explanation and for the all time that you give for us
mamour, always the right question! :)
I'm not as smart as you in english!! :D you speak very very well