Bob is the kind of a man who likes his cookies with milk.
A common error on standardized test questions is the inclusion of “a” after a classification term such as “kind of,” “sort of,” and “type of.” It is not correct to insert the article “a” (or “an”) between the preposition (”of”) and the object of the preposition.
This is the corrected version of the sentence:
Bob is the kind of man who likes his cookies with milk.
Do not do this:
- sort of a person
- type of an animal
- kind of a girl
Do this:
- sort of person
- type of animal
- kind of girl
NOTE: This usage of “kind of” and “sort of” is acceptable because the terms relate to the classification of a person or thing. Never use “kind of” and “sort of” in place of words like “rather” or “somewhat.”
- Read more about this rule: Never Do This: “kind of” and “sort of”
Read Grammar Examples of this error.
