Sort, typeandkindall generally mean the same thing. They are words we use to refer to a group of people or things which share the samecharacteristics. We use these words very often when we describe things and we often find them in dictionary definitions:
Jazz isn’t thesortof music I can listen to for very long.
A fastener is atypeof metal button which fits together to join clothes, for example a coat might have fasteners.
There are manykindsof birds coming to feed in my garden at the moment.
We often usesort, typeandkindas vague expressions to suggest that we think something is like something else. We do this either because we are not sure, or because we do not want to be too specific and too direct:
[joking about a cheap perfume that someone got as a present]
And it was, it was really cheap, I mean, it was asortof a rose perfume and I think the whole box only cost him one pound fifty, or something. You could probably run your car off it.
We sometimes usesomebeforesort, typeandkindas vague expressions:
Karen has madesome sortof cake for the party.
There wassome typeof hole in the road and we didn’t see it.
There’ssome kindof strange smell in here.
We often useand that kind of thingorand that sort of thingto refer to categories. We usually give an example or two from the category we are referring to first, e.g.apples and that kind of thing, bookshops and libraries and that sort of thing:
A:What are you doing tonight?
B:Well, first, I’ve got lots of markingand that sort of thingto do.
A:Are you taking anything to eat?
B:Just a few snacks – crispsand that kind of thing.
See also:
Kind ofandsort of
Vague expressions
Hedges (just)