a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~

Phoo · Sat Jul 28, 2007 20:41 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

What is the different b/w "a kind of a ~" and "kind of a ~"?

Ex: A) It is kind of a big project this year.
B) He is a kind of a catch as a lovor.

How come A) is without "a" while B) is with "a" before "kind"?

Help me! Sad

Yankee · Sat Jul 28, 2007 21:23 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

Hi Phoo

'Kind of' is used to mean rather or somewhat. You can say 'kind of a' when referring to a descriptive noun (or adjective + noun together) to limit the degree of what you are describing. Without the word 'a', you would be referring to either just an adjective or adverb. Your first sentence sounds natural.

He is kind of a sissy.
He is kind of interesting.
He drives kind of slowly.

However, your second sentence only sounds odd to me.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

Phoo · Sat Jul 28, 2007 22:17 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

I thought exactly what you said however, I have found some expressions with "a kind of a ~",
that's why I am wodering now.

The second one is from my dictornary, also some more examples from the net, you can see.
http://www.shalem.org/resources/publication/newsletter/archives/1993/1993_winter/article_03

"I discovered the deepest personal meaning of my work, that it is a kind of a ministry."

Edison_Chen_e_c · Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:26 am *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

Yankee · Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:18 am *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

Hi Phoo

I don't use the format 'a kind of a'. Instead I only use 'a kind of' to mean 'a type of'. But even without the second 'a', your sentence still sounds odd. It's completely unclear what 'catch' is supposed to mean.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

Phoo · Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:25 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

I am still confused.....

What is the difference b/w "What kind of car did you buy?" and "What kind of a car you bought!"
Are you saying the second sentence means that "Why did you buy such a bad car!"?

And according to my dictionary, "He is kind of a catch as a lover." means "He is a typ of guy I want to have as my boyfriend." So confusing......

Diverhank · Sun Jul 29, 2007 17:50 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

I agree with Yankee. "A kind of" is used only to describe " a type of". For example: "Mango is a kind of tropical fruits that...". You use "kind of" to describe "somewhat...", to me, this is slangy and is used more in conversations, not as much in writing.

In your example..."He is a kind of a catch as a lover..."...like Yankee said, it's not very clear. How many kinds of catches are there? There should only be one catch. Either he's a catch or he's not. So you should simply say : "he's a catch", not " he's a kind of a catch". You can say "he's kind of a (good) catch" or better you should say "he's kind of (kinda) a good lover".

Alan · Sun Jul 29, 2007 18:12 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

Hi,

This construction to me sounds as if the speaker is being mildly sarcastic. There is a difference between:

What kind of car is that? = tell me the make of the car.

What kind of a car is that? = it looks very strange to me and isn't really a proper car.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Don't bank on it

Yankee · Sun Jul 29, 2007 18:59 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

Phoo · Sun Jul 29, 2007 21:38 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

I want to check the all usage of "a".
Do you know any good grammar sites on line?

And aldo "some" which has so many maening depending on contxt.
Some people say that "some + singular noun" mans "very bad" and other say "very good".....
I want to learn them all.

Edison_Chen_e_c · Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:41 am *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

Edison_Chen_e_c · Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:11 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

He is a kind of a catch as a lover.

Like what Yankee said, I would use:

1.He is kind of a catch as a lover. (you take 'kind of' away if you want to)
'kind of' here you can consider it 'kind of' in the sentence: I'm (kind of) hungry.
2.He is that kind of catch as a lover.

I won't use:

1.He is a kind of catch as a lover. ('a' may cause the meaning odd, but nothing wrong grammatically.)
2.He is a kind of a catch as a lover. (the second 'a' makes the whole pretty pretty odd)
3..He is that kind of a catch as a lover. (the second 'a' makes the whole pretty pretty odd)

Maybe you find out something in your dictionary and post it here, let me know where I'm not clear all.

Phoo · Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:54 am *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

Sorry, the sentence was "He is a kind of a catch as a lover. " as I wrote first.
It was in my Japanese-English dictionary.
http://www2.alc.co.jp/ejr/index.php?word_in=a+kind+of+a&word_in2=%82%A9%82%AB%82%AD%82%AF%82%B1&word_in3=PVawEWi72JXCKoa0Je
So it sounds like this senence is a kind of Japalish, bad English....

It also gives "What's a kind of a daily routine for you?" or
" A leather jacket with a kind of a sheepskin hood around it, you know. "

Edison_Chen_e_c · Tue Jul 31, 2007 14:59 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

Yankee · Tue Jul 31, 2007 18:20 pm *a kind of a ~/ kind of a ~*

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