Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: what kind of...

Non capisco quando usare il plurale
con i nome "kind" e "book"...
- What kind of book do you like?
- What kind of books do you like?
- What kinds of books do you like?
Sono corrette tutte?

):

My interpretation of the three questions:
What kinds of books do you like?
I'm supposing you are well-read and versatile: you like many genres. Tell me 
what they are.
What kind of books do you like?
You have just told me about a passion of yours; the question is slightly more 
specialized, more specific.
What kind of book do you like?
I'm not likely to phrase the question this way, although it's not wrong and 
it would be understood.
-- 
Joe/Joey da New York
English as she is spoken (and sometimes written) in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_As_She_Is_Spoke

Thank you very much!
So they have the same meaning
as the italian literal translation...good!

 it would be understood.
Wasn't there a rule according to which only "kind of <singular>" and 
"kinds of <plural>" are correct?
Kiuhnm

 con i nome "kind" e "book"...
Fatti la stessa domanda in italiano e vedi di capire le differenze.

):

I don't know.


 ha scritto nel messaggio 
news:jyBhn.122867$813.1...@tornado.fastwebnet.it...

Se leggi il mio secondo messaggio,
ti accorgerai che c'ero gi� arrivato
alla tua "intuizione".
Comunque grazie per il post inutile ;-) 

 Fatti la stessa domanda in italiano e vedi di capire le differenze.
C'ï¿œ bisogno di essere cosï¿œ acidi? Suvvia...
Ciao,
Enrico il Pentolaio.

 "kinds of <plural>" are correct?
Da una discussione su en.wiki:
# The lead does not consistently combine the terms "quark" and "flavour". 
Here are some examples: "There are six different types of quarks", "For 
every quark flavor", "All six flavors of quark". My question is this: 
When the two words are used together, should "flavor" be pluralized, 
should "quark" be pluralized, or both?
    I suggest substituting "quark"/"flavor" with "pencil"/"color" and see 
if there is anything that has bad pluralization.
        Hmm. I suppose you're right! Struck. --Cryptic C62 � Talk 17:24, 
19 June 2009 (UTC)

 C'ï¿œ bisogno di essere cosï¿œ acidi? Suvvia...
Mica sono stato acido.
Vuoi vedere quando sono acido? :-)

 C'� bisogno di essere cos� acidi? Suvvia...
Se controllate i miei vecchi post, scoprirete
che Ragnarok risponde sempre in modo
ingiustificatamente aggressivo.
Premetto che non ci conosciamo
e mi piacerebbe sapere il motivo di queste
sue reazioni "immotivate" nei miei confronti.
Forse uno tizio che si chiamava "ehimey"
l'ha picchiato quando era piccolo e
ora lui rivive il trauma...
Ahahahah :-))) 

 ingiustificatamente aggressivo.
Non rispondo in modo aggressivo. Evito solo di sprecar banda con inutili 
convenevoli.

 ha scritto nel messaggio 
news:pubin.124107$813....@tornado.fastwebnet.it...

E da questa risposta rivela che trattasi di Nerd vecchio stile, quando la 
banda era un problema serio e venivi cazziato anche se andavi a capo 
inutilmente.
Nel frattempo sono passati 15 anni, ma loro non se ne sono accorti. :)
ciao, Janis 

 Nel frattempo sono passati 15 anni, ma loro non se ne sono accorti. :)
E allora viva lo spreco...
Ma che discorsi sono?
E' il principio quello che conta, non si deve sprecare, non ï¿œ perchï¿œ una 
cosa abbonda allora ce ne freghiamo...

 as the italian literal translation...good!
No, they don't have the exact same meaning, but the differences are 
small enough to slip by unnoticed.
When you ask "what kind" you encourage an answer that identifies a 
singular kind in response. When you ask "what kinds" you encourage an 
answer that may list several examples or genres.
The case of "book" or "books" is less critical to the meaning, assuming 
that you don't try to unsuccessfully match the plural of "kind" and the 
singular of "books."
In contrast to Joe's response, I would be more likely to say "what kind 
of book" rather than "what kind of books," if I wanted to know 
specifically the person's reading preference. Although, practically 
speaking, I'd be more likely to ask "what kinds of books" because people 
seldom only like one genre.
While I'm at it, I'll also throw my hat into the "acid" debate. Frankly, 
using the imperative to suggest that someone think of the usage in 
Italian is less confrontational than the frequent response in this 
newsgroup that says essentially: "look it up!" (Not that a "look it up" 
suggestion is completely unjustified, at times, but with new posters it 
could be phrased with more grace.)
In addition, a response that calls another post "inutile" has a 
considerable unnecessary acerbic edge to it, whether or not the post in 
which you alluded to the Italian literal translation was missed or not. 
Having said that, to suggest that someone depend on the literal Italian 
translation to understand an English expression is often bad advice. It 
only works inconsistently.

 seldom only like one genre.
As clarification, I should mention that, when I suggested that I might 
respond with "what kind of book" instead of "what kind of books," I 
envisioned a discussion that evolved from the person first saying that 
they didn't like a particular book (that perhaps I was reading). If 
instead the discussion evolved from a statement; such as, "I hate 
mysteries" my response would probably include "books." Context is 
everything (including hyperbole).