participle forms. Kept. See keep. Kind. Kind is one of those words used in English too often because it takes the place of thought or extends what looks like a skimpy idea or phrase into something larger or longer. Most often it signals weak or sloppy thinking That kind of work is poor This sentence is acceptable but communicates little to the reader. Better to specify what is hidden behind kind Careless work is poor.” “Kind of is another abby form for avoiding clarity of thought or expression It is kind of warm This is not acceptable and can be improved, again, by getting rid of “kind of and spelling out what you have in mind It is very (not very, a little) warm.” Also see sort. It is also best to avoid kind in place of words like variety That is a kind of banana It is either a banana or not, or it is some variant form of a banana but it tells your audience nothing worth knowing to say it is a kind of banana. Do you mean it is a form of banana you’ve never seen before Or maybe you don’t know what it is called Then say so This looks like a banana, but I don’t know what it’s called I think it is related to bananas, but it might be something else altogether.” If you do know that it is a variety (sort or type) of something, kind can be used to indicate a relationship to a larger category I don’t know the name for this, but this kind of banana grows here.” “Kind” is singular and is modi ed by singular demonstrative pronouns This kind of banana grows only here WRONG These kind of bananas are tasty RIGHT: “This kind of banana is green, but those kinds of oranges are yellow See modifier and pronoun. Do not use a after kind of WRONG There is some kind of a banana growing here RIGHT Some kind of banana is growing here, but I don’t know its name.”
