‘Kind Of’ & ‘Kinds Of’

Words KIND, SORT, and TYPE can be troublesome when they are used with plural nouns and adjectives, all of them are used in a similar way.

1. We use KIND to talk about a class of people or things. KIND is a countable noun. After words referring to singular people/things such as THIS/THAT, etc. we use KIND (not KINDS) and for words referring to plural people/things such as ALL/MANY/THESE/THOSE, we use KINDS (not KIND); e.g.

a) I don’t read this kind of magazine.
b) There are problems with this kind of explanation.
c) It will give you an opportunity to meet all kinds of people.
d) My drawer is filled with many kinds of books.

NOTE: We can also say:

a) I don’t read magazines of this kind.
b) There are problems with explanations of this kind.

2 After KINDS OF we can use either the plural or singular form of a noun; e.g.

a) I like most kinds of cars.
= I like most kinds of car.

b) There are many kinds of phones with us.
= There are many kinds of phone with us.

NOTE: But after KIND OF we use the singular form of a noun (not plural); e.g.

a) I’m not the kind of person to get married.
b) She makes the same kind of point in another essay.