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The indefinite article certainly adds something, creating a slightly different shade of meaning, but is there a clearly defined rule or principle for this?

What kind of freak show is this?

What kind of a freak show is this?

Or:

What kind of person are you?

What kind of a person are you?

There is a TV show in which a character, unsatisfied with the manner in which he's about to be killed, asks rhetorically:

CHARACTER: What kind of a death is this?

What would change if he said instead:

CHARACTER: What kind of death is this?

Both are grammatically correct, I suspect. Ngram says so, anyway.

Community
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Ricky
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    I don't think this is a duplicate of that question, because this one is asking about nuanced meaning, and that one was asking about grammatical correctness. – Karl Rookey Oct 01 '18 at 20:54

2 Answers2

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I think the answer is "No": There is no clearly defined rule or principle for applying the article in the situation you define. As you surmise, these are both grammatically correct constructs, and I believe you are right that there is a subtle change of meaning between the two, but I also believe it doesn't warrant a rule for usage.

That said, I think we can observe two clear differences in using the article:

  1. it adds a grace note to the rhythm of the phrase, which slightly raises the intensity of the question and
  2. it adds emphasis to the specific thing being talked about rather than the broader category, making the phrase less philosophical and more tied to a single instance in question.

With those thoughts, we could suggest that the article be used in situations intended to be funny or emotionally intense, and omit the article when the intent is depth of meaning. But those would only be suggestions.

Here is where you can ask philosophically

What kind of answer is that?

or maybe ask accusingly

What kind of an answer is that?

;)

Karl Rookey
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I think the article adds vaugueness, deliberately, insinuating that the item is not 'X' by the unnecessary addition of the article.

Why add it ? if not to hint that the item does not in fact bear the quality or term spoken of.

'What kind of car is that ?' simply asks what make and model is it. 'What kind of a car is that ?' implies that the thing is so ineffectual or so unattractive that it does not (really or in concept) deserve the term 'car'.

I think the rule would be :

If the article is unnecessary, it is there to deliberately imply that what is articled is undeserved as a description.

Nigel J
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