I am not sure if this has been dealt with on this forum but I still haven't received a satisfying answer rgarding this.
My question is what should the verb be after expressions such as: kind of/sort of/a variety of? singular or plural? e.g:
1. What kind of books (appeals/appeal) to you?
2. This sort of trees (live/lives) in very hot regions.
3. A variety of songs (is going/are going) to be sung.
The dilemma stems from choosing between the real grammatical subject. Is it (kind/sort/variety)? or the noun in the prepositional phrase (of books/of trees/of songs)?
Thanks in advance

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tonyjab,

Richard just answered my question about "type of" and "types of". If "kind of" and
sort of" are the same as "type of", then it's...

1. either "What kind of book appeals to you?" or "What kinds of books appeal to you?"
2. "What sorts of trees live in very hot regions?" (I suppose there should be more than one sort)

I think "a variety of" is another thing. It is more like "a lot of", so it should always be followed by a plural noun.

Alex, would you look back again at my examples? they read: (kind of bookS) (sort of treeS) The nouns in my example are plural not singular! If I used the singular there wouldn't be any problem-unless (kind of/sort of+ plural noun) were not correct English.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tonyjab,

YES, that's exactly what I am talking about. Richard seemed to think that "what type of guyS do you like?" is incorrect in my previous posting. So, I am saying perhaps, according to the same logic, "kind of bookS" and "sort of treeS" are wrong too.

Ah! Now I get your point! Even though it is very strange because I can cite millions of examples using (kind of/type of +plural noun) in newspapers, websites ...etc.

Now I guess these people were wrong all the time. I will never use (/kind of/type of trees) anymore.
Thanks Alex and Richard

Actually, I am not sure about that. I see millions of examples using "kind of" and "type of" + a plural noun too. Even in the Longman dicitoary, I see "What kind of thingS do the girls get up to". Richard, would you mind elaborating a bit on this for us?

Yes, there is illogic in lots of things involving language, guys. Here's what I mean:

If I ask you What kind of tree do you like? I expect your answer to be ONE kind of tree, and in my question, I'm using tree in its generic sense.

If I ask you What kinds of trees do you like? I'm expecting TWO OR MORE kinds, which means I'm thinking of different trees, not just one type. That's why I think it's logical to use singular + singular and plural + plural.

Look, as far as illogic goes in language, what about when somebody says I'm going to tell you the reason why. Actually, I think that's ridiculous! If he's going to tell me the reason, that means he's going to tell me why. It certainly sounds illogical and silly to me to say the reason why. But there you have it. The majority of native speakers will say this is perfectly fine with them. Aaaaarrgghh!

This is what I think can be correct:

What kind of / sort of book
What kind of / sort of books
What kinds of / sort of books

but not What kinds of book.

See this thread: http://thegrammarexchange.info...=174101649#174101649
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About 'variety': It can be either 'is' or 'are.' See this thread:

http://thegrammarexchange.info...396097462#9396097462

Here's a related topic, on 'percentage is' or 'percentage are.' It's excellent (but long):

http://thegrammarexchange.info...526090545#2526090545

Percentages have never posed a problem to me; the rule is simple: look at the noun phrase following the percentage and see whether it is plural or singular then you can easily determine the verb:
- 4% of the kids were disabled.
- 66% of the sea was contaminated.

With respect to the word (percentage) itself I think the verb should agree with it e.g:

-The percentage of students improving was (high/low).
-In fact, the percentage of players who are white has dropped substantially since ...
-The percentage of players in NCAA Division I is even lower than the major leagues. ...
-The percentage of players who play a human is at 38% of the total playerbase, ...
-What's the percentage of smokers in your country?
-The percentage of smokers has decreased year by year. ...
-In FY2008 the percentage of smokers was 35.6%, and the percentage of employees ...
-The percentage of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tonyjab,