When I begin editing a client’s draft, I invariably find these two duos of confusion:

Since used to mean because

Like used to mean such as

Let’s look at each of these pairs of confusion.

Since or Because?

• Since refers to time:
  

It’s been years since I’ve eaten s’mores!

• Because refers to consequence:

I avoid s’mores because of my marshmallow allergy.

Oh, yes, it does make a difference.

Look at these two nearly-identical sentences about Rafe’s love life. Changing just one word changes the sentence’s meaning.

Since he broke up with flaxen-haired Dominique, Rafe’s dated brunettes.

Because he broke up with flaxen-haired Dominique, Rafe’s dated brunettes.

Using Since tells us when Rafe began dating brunettes. The clause he broke up with Dominique refers to time; I could write instead since May 12 (the date Dominque dumped him).

Using Because tell us why Rafe is dating brunettes—His last girlfriend was a blonde.

My advice: Check your writing for the word since. Do you really mean because? Go ahead and say so!

Like or Such as?

• Like refers to affection or preference.

I like the Oakland A’s.

He had every quality Dominique was seeking—he even liked opera.

• Such as refers to an item, quality, or characteristic .

He had visited many ball parks, such as Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium and Fenway.

He has excellent skills, such as fluent Esperanto.

When speaking, we’d probably say “He’s visited many ball parks, like Wrigley Field.”  Such  colloquial usage might be acceptable in speech, but avoid it in writing.

Remember: Don’t make your reader work any harder than necessary! When we see like in print, we first think of its most common definition: Affection. Although we might quickly discern that that is not what’s meant, it still takes those few seconds to adjust our grasp of the sentence’s meaning, which interrupts the flow of reading and comprehension.

(An added advantage of such as, when it prefaces a list, is it’s indication that the list is representative, not comprehensive. There’s no need to add a weak etc. at the end).

My advice: Check your writing for the word like. If you’re using it to preface a list of items or a quality, change it to such as.