One of my favorite poems about summer is Emily Dickinson’s “My Garden — like the Beach.” In just a few lines, Dickinson illustrates the power of comparison and different techniques that can be used to achieve it:
Denotes there be — a Sea —
That’s Summer —
Such as These — the Pearls
She fetches — such as Me
Just as the presence of a beach suggests the sea is near, Dickinson’s garden signals that summer has arrived. In the first line, the poet employs “like” to compare her garden to the beach. Later, Dickinson uses “such as” to anchor something more specific: The summer brings forth a poet, just as the sea brings forth pearls. These lines demonstrate the strengths of both “like” and “such as,” but the uses of these comparative words extend beyond 19th-century poetry.
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, they serve distinct purposes. “Such as” introduces specific examples and is preferred in formal and academic writing. For example: “Writers such as Emily Dickinson used vivid imagery.” It’s clear and direct. “Like,” meanwhile, suggests similarity rather than inclusion and is used as a frame of reference. While “like” is commonly used to imply the following examples are part of the whole, it actually excludes them from the group. Saying “19th-century poets like Dickinson used vivid imagery” technically implies that poets similar to Dickinson, but not Dickinson herself, used vivid imagery.
But in modern, casual language, “like” is frequently used to introduce examples. As Dr. Paul Brians, author of Common Errors in English Usage, points out, avoiding “like” for introducing examples altogether can be overkill. He uses the sentence “Ice cream flavors like vanilla and strawberry always sell well” as an example. Rule followers, he explains, would use “such as,” but he assures us that “like” is fine when the meaning of the examples (the taste of vanilla and strawberry) involves verbs of perception, such as “look,” “feel,” “sound,” “seem,” or “taste.” So, when should you use which preposition? To play it safe, stick with “such as” for formal settings or precise examples, and use “like” when drawing comparisons or setting a conversational tone.
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