Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
kind, manner, sort, style, type, way (nn.)
These nouns, introduced by this/that, these/those, or any/all and followed by prepositional phrases introduced by of, present a good many usage problems. Edited American English and most conservative American commentary insist that the singular nouns kind, manner, sort, type, style, and way must be modified by singular demonstratives (this/that kind or manner or sort or style or type or way) and that normally each will be followed by an of phrase with a singular object (this kind of dog, that manner of chatter, that sort of dilemma, this type of book, this way of writing). Further, these same conservative American standards insist that when kind, manner, sort, type, way, and the like are plural, then the preceding demonstratives and any count nouns serving as objects of the following prepositions must also be plural: these kinds of studies, those sorts of poems, these types of airplanes. But when the following objects of the preposition are mass nouns, they may be singular, as in those sorts of gravel, those types of sand, these ways of thinking. Whatever the American Edited English standards demand, however, British English and American Conversational and Informal uses clearly display a full range of combinations of singulars and plurals, although these usages are under considerable stress at present. Best advice: for publication and Oratorical or Formal use, stay as close to the conservative patterns as possible, and at other levels be aware that you may sometimes be faulted by those who use and prefer the conservative patterns. See KIND OF; SOME KIND OF.
