Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2021 September 14

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September 14

Differences in examples

Hello all from a Jonas Brothers fan! :D. I hope you are OK. Could anyone explain me the difference between:

- Malala Yousafzai like many other girls in Pakistan... or Malala Yousafzai such as other girls in Pakistan.

Which one would be correct in English? I thank you deeply!. (I won't be thanking you in writing to not make this thread long but I deeply thank you all in advance). Have an excellent day. CoryGlee (talk) 11:53, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

I could handwave about possible differences (the first is less formal, and might or might not benefit from a comma after the name, the second does not make grammatical sense in isolation, but might within a longer sentence) but I think we need more context. Can you requote with more text before and after? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.67.3 (talk) 18:09, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

Let's use the bland VP "enjoys tennis". For me, all three of the following are fully grammatical and fully idiomatic:

• Malala Yousafzai, like many other girls in Pakistan, enjoys tennis.
• Like many other girls in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai enjoys tennis.
• Malala Yousafzai enjoys tennis, like many other girls in Pakistan.

Each says that the other girls are similar to her. The obvious interpretation of "Malala Yousafzai such as other girls in Pakistan" is that the other girls are examples of her; but they can't be, so replacing "like" in any of those three example sentences with "such as" would bring a bizarre result. However, as a number formerly known as another number has suggested above, it might be possible to imagine acceptable sentences including the string "Malala Yousafzai such as other girls in Pakistan". (I haven't thought about it carefully.) -- Hoary (talk) 23:38, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

In my slothery I have noticed many instances of as with where like would be at least as good, and suspect that people have been given the idea that like is somehow vulgar. —Tamfang (talk) 01:37, 15 September 2021 (UTC)

I'd use "such as" in this order:

• Many girls in Pakistan, such as Malala Yousafzai, enjoy tennis.

Here Malala is one of these Pakistani girls. In this case you can also use "like":

• Many girls in Pakistan, like Malala Yousafzai, enjoy tennis.

More in general, when "like" introduces an example (or a more specific subgroup), it can be replaced by "such as". But when it widens to a larger group, or notes a similarity with a different entity, you cannot make this replacement:

• Serena Williams, like her sister Venus, has held all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles simultaneously. Y
• Serena Williams, such as her sister Venus, has held all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles simultaneously. N

 --Lambiam 06:29, 15 September 2021 (UTC)