Kinds of ...

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

“He has not been content with anecdotal truths about the kinds of student Leavis selected and tutored.”

My reading came to a sudden halt when I saw the singular of “student.”

I rushed to my books, and they told me that “good” American English would require “students.”

That sentence was written by a British (?) gentleman in a British publication.

My question: If someone asked you which form – the singular or plural – to use, what would be your answer?

Thank you,

James

Source: John Mullan [“teaches English at UCL.”], LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS (print edition), September 12, 2013, page 11.

2

–An interesting idea to refer to ‘student’ as a class. Also meet:Types of bear; kinds of translation, principles and difficulties;Three kinds of metaphor in discourse: A linguistic taxonomy…

3

Thank you, Eugene.

4

In fact, that wasn’t persuasive enough.
Have a look at a few of the kind: First, we must introduce two additional kinds of molecule.
These two kinds of rule are not, of course, independent of each other .
For he can also imitates at least three different kinds of train.
…it is useful to distinguish two kinds of chemical reaction,…
As we saw in the previous paragraph, there are many kinds of user.
What kinds of dog have only three legs? What kinds of error does the teacher correct?

5

To treat ‘student’ (and the like) as a class noun in such situations is a new and interesting piece of information. Usually we tend to pluralize the noun when ‘kinds’ is used. But when we go singular, do we need to use ‘a’ before it as in ‘What kind of a student is she?’?

6

No, that’s not necessary.

7

Thank you, Anglophile and Beeesneees, for your comments.

8

Thank you, Anglophile and Beeesneees, for your comments.