The differences in structural response to near-fault pulse-like, near-fault non pulse-like, and far-fault ground motions are examined based on elastic and inelastic response spectra. As a first step, the criteria to identify pulse-like motions are examined. The influence of the ground motion orientation is also studied, considering the normal to strike orientation, and the principal directions of motion among others. The characteristics of the spectral shapes are synthesized constructing smoothed spectra using the Veletsos-Newmark-Hall methodology, i.e., considering response amplification factors for elastic systems and response reduction factors for inelastic systems.