kind of + noun

Hello, Me_IV—You can say "It's kind of a car." That does NOT mean the same thing as "It's a kind of car." Rather, in "It's kind of a car," "kind of" means "sort of," and the meaning is that it is not exactly a car, but is close to being one. Your other sentence ("It's kind of car") is ungrammatical. "Car" is not an adjective.

Don't you think that it's suspicious or strange that none of the dictionaries mentions that "kind of" can be used with a noun?

@Me_IV posted:

Don't you think that it's suspicious or strange that none of the dictionaries mentions that "kind of" can be used with a noun?

"A car" is not a noun. It is a noun phrase.

It's not the point. Even if it's not a noun but a noun phrase it doesn't change the gist of what I said about the dictionaries.

Me_IV, considering that, as David told you, "kind of" is synonymous with "sort of," please note you can indeed find "sort of" in examples with noun phrases here, for example.

@Me_IV posted:

Don't you think that it's suspicious or strange that none of the dictionaries mentions that "kind of" can be used with a noun?

Both "kind of" and "sort of" can be used with practically any kind of word or phrase after them. That's why I think dictionaries don't make a point of their preceding nouns or noun phrases in particular.

Thanks, Gustavo. Perhaps Me_IV would like to see a thorough dictionary entry. Here is the entry for "kind of" in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Have fun reading this, Me_IV! I think you'll find that "kind of" can be used in a great variety of ways, and that this mother of all English dictionaries recognizes it.

P3. kind of. Cf. kinda adv. and adj.

a. Uses in which kind of limits or expresses a degree of reservation about the description or designation that follows it. See also in a kind of way at way n.¹ and int.¹ Phrases 6c(d).

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(a) a kind of: a person or thing that is, or may be, included in the specified class or type, though not possessing all the appropriate or expected characteristics or properties; someone or something that can only doubtfully be described as belonging to the class or type in question. Also some kind of. Cf. of a kind (see Phrases 2a(c)).

?1565  A. Hartwell tr. W. Haddon Sight of Portugall Pearle sig. Diii   At length after a volume of raylynge & vncharitable checkes, you knyt vp a kynde of conclusion.

a1616  W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 261   I haue the wit to thinke my Master is a kinde of a knaue. View more context for this quotation

1683  E. Hooker in J. Pordage Theologia Mystica Pref. Epist. 103 (note)    There must be..in the passions..some kind of spiritualitie.

1719  D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 353   I..thought my self a kind of a Monarch.

1738  tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. (ed. 2) I. 343   Only a kind of huts were built there.

1761  J. Wesley Jrnl. 10 June in Wks. (1827) III. 52   One, a kind of gentleman, seemed displeased.

1860  J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. ix. 62   The rock..bent by the pressure so as to form a kind of arch.

a1898  W. Brann in J. D. Shaw Brann, Iconoclast (1905) II. 274   He was a kind of half-baked poetaster.

1976  F. Howerd On Way I lost It (1977) iv. 61   I thought it was some kind of sick joke.

2009  N.Y. Times (Nexis) 19 Aug. a9   His wife feeds him a potion that turns him into a kind of feminist.

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(b) colloquial (originally U.S.). Used adverbially: in a way, in a manner of speaking; to some extent or degree, somewhat; in some way, somehow. In later use sometimes simply expressing a degree of uncertainty or diffidence on the speaker's part in making a comment.

1775  in O. E. Winslow Amer. Broadside Verse (1930) 141   Captain Davis had a gun, He kind of clapt his head on 't.

1830  Massachusetts Spy 6 Jan. 1/5   I was kind of provoked at the way you came up.

1882  Cent. Mag. July 347/2   He was soft-spoken, and she was kind of high-strung.

1914  S. Lewis Our Mr. Wrenn xv. 195   It was great to be in England—though the people there are kind of chilly some ways.

1943  Collier's 15 May 62/3   ‘It's kind of terrible,’ she said at last.

1990  Rolling Stone 22 Mar. 80/3   You kind of feel sorry for him.

2005  J. Canseco Juiced 32   Gomez was kind of a smart ass.

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(c) colloquial. In collocation with sort of, esp. in kind of sort of, typically for emphasis, expressing a greater degree of reservation or hesitation on the part of speaker. Cf. kinda sorta at kinda adv. and adj. Phrases, sort n.² 8c.

1803  Goldfinch 131   A kind of sort of giddiness seiz'd me all over!

1823  L. Hunt in Noctes Ambrosianae Aug. 242/1   A pretty kind of-sort-of-kind of thing.

1830  M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 82   Dash is a sort of a kind of a spaniel.

1901  F. Norris Octopus i. iii. 102   Makes it go down kind of sort of slick.

1984  B. Michaels Grey Beginning 163   This was sort of kind of meant to be an apology.

2002  L. Henderson Broken Record Technique 163   The mystery of a shadowplay, the sorrow of the battle, a kind of sort of tryst.

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b. no kind of: used emphatically to denote the complete absence of anything of the kind specified, or to suggest that the subject could in no way be said to belong to the specified class. Later also any kind of (in negative contexts). Cf. no sort of.. at sort n.² 9.

1546  S. Gardiner Declar. True Articles f. xli   Goddes knowledge they saye is infallible in all thinges that shalbe, and that is moost true, but the infallibilitie is no kynd of cause, of y^e thinge thereby so to be caused, to be, but onely an assuraunce that the thinge as it is knowen of god, shall so be.

1571  T. Fortescue tr. P. Mexia Foreste iii. ii. 111   The first writers had no kinde, or maner of Paper, but wrote continually on the leaues of the Date tree.

a1672  Bp. J. Wilkins Of Princ. Nat. Relig. (1675) i. ix. 125   There is no kind or degree of perfection that our imaginations are able to conceive.

1762  L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy V. xix. 83   The sash pullies, when the lead was gone, were of no kind of use.

1830  J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 173   The embryo has no kind of vascular connexion with the sac that contains it.

1884  Cent. Mag. Dec. 189/2   A poor old woman like me, who hasn't any kind of a handle to her name.

1970  R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 118/2   When we talked, eventually he convinced me that he wasn't any kind of a nut.

1992  i-D July 53/3   The plot makes no kind of sense.

2013  Racing Post (Nexis) 2 July 6   I am no kind of expert in these matters.

Well, I have found the only one example of "kind of a noun"

Gomez was kind of a smart ass.

But I admit it exists.

What kind of a question is this, Me_IV?

I don't see a question. I just wanted to point out that there was only one example of "kind of a noun" of the all examples. The structure is rare but possible.

@Me_IV posted:

I don't see a question.

When you asked your question, were you not asking a question?

I see a question in my original post which has already been answered. But I don't understand what question of mine you referred to when you wrote "What kind of a question is this, Me_IV?" You put it to me after my original question was answered. So I don't consider that your question refers to my original question. 

But I noticed that you composed it in an unusual way. Instead of "What kind of question is this?" you wrote "What kind of a question is this?" as far as I know it's an unusual way and I have no idea what the difference between the two is.

I was playing with you, Me_IV. You never thank us for helping you but are invariably argumentative in your replies, so I decided to have fun with you and dish you up a sample of the very construction you were asking about.