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I would like to know what punctuation mark need to be placed after the word like in the sentence below:

Filter by genre shall display the list of genre like, Action, Adventure

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is that the end of a sentence? – Matt Эллен May 7 '12 at 10:08
1  
No punctuation is better than any. There is no need for one. – Kris May 7 '12 at 10:29
Thx for up'ing the comment; btw I've said the same in an answer below as well. – Kris May 7 '12 at 12:44

4 Answers

up vote 9 down vote

With the sentence you've written, it would probably be better to construct it as follows.

"Filter by genre" shall display the list of genres, like Action, Adventure, etc.

You could also use "for instance" instead of "like". This would be more formal, and preferred given that it looks like you're writing formal specifications. In this case, the punctuation used would be a colon. It seems odd to use it with "like", though.

"Filter by genre" shall display the list of genres, for instance: Action, Adventure, Fantasy.

You can also use "e.g.".

"Filter by genre" shall display the list of genres, e.g.: Action, Adventure, Fantasy.

Or you could use a dash or colon instead of either.

"Filter by genre" shall display the list of genres — Action, Adventure, etc.
"Filter by genre" shall display the list of genres: Action, Adventure, etc.

Please don't use "i.e." though (see @Jay's comment to find out why).

Also note that the plural of "genre" is "genres", and if you're talking about the title of a process or button when you mention "Filter by genre" then consider putting it in quotes.

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3  
RE e.g. and i.e.: e.g. means "for example"; i.e. means "that is". Assuming that you use either one, if you are giving the complete list as it will always appear, you should use i.e. If you are giving a partial list or if the list can change and you are giving what it might be sometimes, than use e.g. "Such as" and "like" mean pretty much the same thing as "e.g.". – Jay May 7 '12 at 15:44
up vote 5 down vote

Like in, on, under, and with, like is a preposition. You wouldn't put any punctuation between those prepositions and their objects, so why would you with like? And, as others have pointed out, your list should come with a conjunctino before the final element.

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Since there are only two options, it should actually be an or. – user14070 May 7 '12 at 14:32
changed to the more general conjunction – Brett Reynolds May 7 '12 at 17:49
up vote 4 down vote

I would reword this sentence using such as instead of like, and then I would put a comma before such as because "such as Action and Adventure" would then be a nonrestrictive clause. And since "Filter by Genre" is the title of something, I would use title case (upper and lower case) and quotation marks. And, as another answer states, the plural of genre is genres. So this is what I'd end up with:

"Filter by Genre" shall display the list of genres, such as Action, Adventure, and Comedy.

See this article on "Like" versus "Such As" for a good explanation of when to use each. It includes a discussion of when to use commas and other punctuation marks.

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I like what you've said here. But in this particular case, I'd also recommend either adding a third genre to the list ("...such as Action, Adventure, and Comedy") or changing the samples ("such as Comedy and Drama"). Otherwise, it's hard to tell if "Action and Adventure" is one genre, or if Action is one genre, and Adventure is another. – J.R. May 7 '12 at 14:08
@J.R., Thank you. I had thought of that, but felt I had changed the OP's original sentence so much that maybe I shouldn't also make an addition. You are right, though, it begs for a third example. – JLG May 7 '12 at 14:16
up vote 0 down vote

There is no need for a punctuation mark after like. The flow of the sentence will be fine without any break between like and the list of genres.

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