Hi,
We explored the Victory, the D-Day Museum, the beach - that kind of thing.
I wonder, is it correct to say “… that kind of things” as well?
No, the plural would be ‘those kinds of things’, but the singular is usual in this context.
Hi Bev, thanks a lot. (I wonder, how could I write “that kind of things”? Grr… Maybe the reason is that the Italian translation of “that kind”, is fine both with “thing” and “things”.)
[color=blue]But if those things are all of one kind, “that kind of things” seems appropriate. Though I agree that the singular is usually used, it seems hard to criticise “that kind of things”.
This seems like another very odd idea. ‘That’ and ‘kind’ are singular and ‘things’ is plural. I find it totally inappropriate to say ‘that kind of things’ rather than ‘those kinds of things’.
You never need to write ‘that kind of things’.
‘that kind of thing’ equates to 'a thing (or other things) of that type, but if you write the first phrase you never need to pluralise the noun ‘things’.
[quote=“Beeesneees”]
This seems like another very odd idea. [color=blue]Or maybe you need to open your mind a bit.
‘That’ and ‘kind’ are singular and ‘things’ is plural. I find it totally inappropriate to say ‘that kind of things’ rather than ‘those kinds of things’. [color=blue]You are totally avoiding the fact that there is ‘one kind’ (singular) but more than one thing. (plural) So you totally have not addressed the question with an open mind. And if ‘one kind of things’ makes sense in Italian, there is no reason it can’t make sense in English!
I’m open minded enough, thank you. It just doesn’t make any sense in ENGLISH.
You cannot have ‘that things’ or ‘one things’. At the very least it would need to be ‘those kind of things’.
[color=blue] No, “those” is plural and there is only one kind of things.
Beeesneees,
For “We explored the Victory, the D-Day Museum, the beach - that kind of thing.”
can I write, “We explored that kind of thing at the Victory, the D-Day Museum, the beach, etc.”?
Thanks.
That changes the meaning entirely.
Beeesneees,
- We explored the Victory, the D-Day Museum, the beach - that kind of thing.
- We explored that kind of thing at the Victory, the D-Day Museum, the beach, etc.
Please explain the meaning of each sentence so that I can understand the difference.
Thanks.
- The places listed were the kinds of things that were explored.
- The places listed are the locations where the things were explored. The kind of thing is not stated in this sentence. It would have been indicated in the previous sentences.
As there is no pchance of continuing this discussion on any sensible level, here is a summary of my points as my last post on the subject.
That kind of thing. ‘That’ is singular and there is one type of (possibly a number of) thing(s) mentioned of one kind.
Those kind of things. ‘Those’ is plural because there are a number of things of one kind.
Those kinds of things. ‘Those’ is plural because there are a number of things of several different kinds.
That kind of things - illogical and nonsensical.
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
We members really learn so much from Beeesneees and Canadian.
Like most members, I had decided not to participate in this “vigorous” debate, but I finally said to myself: What the h-ll! I am 77 years old.
- Personally, until I read this debate, I had always thought that it was natural (and “correct”) to only say:
“I really like those kinds of things.”
-
And – truth be told – I think that learners should definitely do the same.
-
This debate really interested me, so I went to my favorite professor: Dr. Google. In the “books” section, I found many presumably good authors who wrote “that kind of things.”
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I then found an explanation from a scholar. May I share it with my fellow members?
Our pronoun “this” really has reference to “kind,” not to “things:” but the fact of “things” being plural gives a plural complexion to the whole , and we are tempted to put “this” into the plural.
It must be confessed that the phrase “This kind of things” … [has] a very awkward sound; and we find that our best writers have the popular expression “These kind.”
“These kind of knaves, I know.” – Shakespeare.
Those two paragraphs above come from the scholar’s book. You can read it by going to the “books” section of Google. Type in “That kind of things The Queen’s English Henry Alford”
Most people come to this helpline in order to get advice about idiomatic English in 2014:
Beeesneees always gives us the best idiomatic English at the present time.
And Canadian always reminds us that there are often many ways to look at things.
James
Hi dear James,
Thanks a lot for your attention. Your messages are never trivial.
Thanks again. 
Thank you for your kind note, Francis.