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Jackson6612 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
A kind of gray
1 kind (noun)
4 c : a doubtful or barely admissible member of a category <a kind of gray>
1 gray (adjective)
5 :having an intermediate and often vaguely defined position, condition, or character <an ethically gray
area>
[M-W's Col. Dic.]
Both 'kind' and 'gray' have similar meanings except that they differ as parts of speech. To me, 'a kind of gray' is a redundant expression. I understand redundancy in English expressions is common and it is one of the beautiful features of English where add more meaning to the expression. It's only that I'm unable to see any beauty or purpose here. Please enlighten me on this, perhaps using some contextual example. Thanks a lot.
4 c : a doubtful or barely admissible member of a category <a kind of gray>
1 gray (adjective)
5 :having an intermediate and often vaguely defined position, condition, or character <an ethically gray
area>
[M-W's Col. Dic.]
Both 'kind' and 'gray' have similar meanings except that they differ as parts of speech. To me, 'a kind of gray' is a redundant expression. I understand redundancy in English expressions is common and it is one of the beautiful features of English where add more meaning to the expression. It's only that I'm unable to see any beauty or purpose here. Please enlighten me on this, perhaps using some contextual example. Thanks a lot.
Top answer
Hi, 1 kind (noun) 4 c : a doubtful or barely admissible member of a category < a kind of gray > 1 gray (adjective) 5 :having an intermediate and often vaguely defined position, condition, or character <an ethically gray area> This meaning of 'gray' as unclear, vaguely defined is the figurative meaning. The meaning in 'a kind of gray' above is the literal meaning, which is simply the colour. M-W defines this as Definition of GRAY 1 a : of the color gray You could just as easily say eg 'a kind of red' or 'a kind of blue'.
- Hi, 1 kind (noun) 4 c : a doubtful or barely admissible member of a category < a kind of gray > 1 gray (adjective) 5 :having an intermediate and often vaguely defined position, condition, or character <an ethically gray area> This meaning of 'gray' as unclear, vaguely defined is the figurative meaning.
- The meaning in 'a kind of gray' above is the literal meaning, which is simply the colour.
- M-W defines this as Definition of GRAY 1 a : of the color gray You could just as easily say eg 'a kind of red' or 'a kind of blue'.
- Both 'kind' and 'gray' have similar meanings except that they differ as parts of speech.
- To me, 'a kind of gray' is a redundant expression.
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3 Answers
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Hi,
1 kind (noun)
4 c : a doubtful or barely admissible member of a category <a kind of gray>
1 gray (adjective)
5 :having an intermediate and often vaguely defined position, condition, or character <an ethically gray area>
This meaning of 'gray' as unclear, vaguely defined is the figurative meaning.
The meaning
1 kind (noun)
4 c : a doubtful or barely admissible member of a category <a kind of gray>
1 gray (adjective)
5 :having an intermediate and often vaguely defined position, condition, or character <an ethically gray area>
This meaning of 'gray' as unclear, vaguely defined is the figurative meaning.
The meaning
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Clive, could you please use this expressin 'a kind of grey' in some example to make the meaning clear? Thanks for the guidance.
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Hi,
His shirt was a kind of gray, and his pants were a kind of blue.
Clive
His shirt was a kind of gray, and his pants were a kind of blue.
Clive
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