a kind of and quite

[Ju]

Shall I say the implication of a kind of and quite are the same?

eg

1) It's a kind of cold.


2) It's quite cold.


Tks / ju

 

[engee30]

Shall I say the implication of a kind of and quite are the same?

eg

1) It's a kind of cold.


2) It's quite cold.


Tks / ju

♥♦♣♠ NOT A TEACHER ♥♦♣♠
I'm quite sure you wanted to say It's kind of cold, which is not the same as It's a kind of cold - the latter would normally mean that you're talking about a cold, an illness.

 

[BobK]

:up: And 'kind of' meaning 'quite' is kind of informal.

b

 

[engee30]

:up: And 'kind of' meaning 'quite' is kind of informal.

b

Couldn't agree more, Bob.

 

[Khosro]

Shall I say the implication of a kind of and quite are the same?

eg

1) It's a kind of cold.


2) It's quite cold.


Tks / ju

I think you can put "quite" instead of "kind of" (though "quite" is more formal) but you can not put "kind of" instead of "quite" in all cases. Am I right or not? i looked it up in 2 dictionaries and I saw different meanings for "quite":

1. to the greatest extent; completely or absolutely you're quite right quite the opposite
2. (not used with a negative) to a noticeable or partial extent; somewhat she's quite pretty
(Collins dictionary)

1- to some degree: ........
2- completely: ...
(Macmillan dictionary)

I guess we can not use "kind of" instead of "quite" if quite means the first meaning in Collins or the second one in Macmillan.

Ofcourse I am not a native English speaker but there is something in the difinition of "quite" which stops me of saying: "the implications of "kind of" and "quite" are the same", sometimes it sounds to me that they are in opposition.

 

[allenman]

it sounds to me that they are in opposition.

No. Just a degree of comparison. As the dictionary reference you gave states, "kind of" means "a little bit". "Quite" means "very". (For these types of comparisons).

Not a teacher.

 

[BobK]

.... "Quite" means "very". (For these types of comparisons).

Not a teacher.

Students should pay special attention to the words I've underlined. Whether or not 'quite' means 'very' depends on whether the following adjective is gradeable:

If you're quite tired, you could carry on doing what you're doing (but would quite like to stop soon).

If you're quite exhausted, you're absolutely exhausted.

The same is true with other gradeable/non-gradeable pairs. The 'quite' in 'quite interesting' isn't the same sort of 'quite' as the one in 'quite enthralling' or 'quite rivetting'; 'quite hungry' has a different sort of 'quite' from 'quite famished'...


b