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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary

Kind of

Hi, I have a new question here.
Sometimes I hear the phrase "kind of" said before an adjective,
for example,
I'm kind of hungry. (the example is given by myself, I can't remember exactly what I heard. Is this example correct?)

So is this usage of "kind of" correct?

Does it mean "to certain degree"?

And can it put in front of an adverb?

I also hear "sort of". Does it mean the same? What's the difference?

Thanks in advance.
  

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5 Answers
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Oh, my! I forgot to login. It became anonymous
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Both kind of and sort of are rather informal English and mean somewhat, to a certain degree, almost
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"kind of" and "sort of" are both very common in everyday speech, and are interchangeable. As you say, they both mean "to a certain degree", but in practice they may be used almost meaninglessly as "fillers" when hesitating (like "um" and "er"), or to "soften" a sentence that would otherwise feel stark.

Yes, you can use them in front of an adverb: "We were walking kind of slowly...
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Got it.
Thank you both, Ivanhr and Mr. Wordy
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Mr. Wordy did mention that they are common in everyday speech, but I think it should be added that they should not be used in formal writing.
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