I found a sentence on Google.
He is some kind of artist,I believe.
In this sentence,I am so confused with the phrase "some kind of".
Does it mean, an artist he did not know or a good artist?
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3You should know that referring to someone as some kind of X is particularly common in negative / condemnatory / dismissive contexts, especially when coupled with I think or I believe. There's often an implication of I don't think very highly of X's in general, so I neither know nor care which particular type of X he is.– FumbleFingersCommented Oct 6, 2016 at 15:20
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2 Answers
As a native speaker, I would interpret that as "He is [a type] of artist, I believe." For example, he might be someone who sketches, or a painter, or a sculptor.
Depending on context, I might interpret it as "He is [an amateur] artist, I believe."
Either way, I would take it to mean that the speaker wasn't 100% sure, but believed that to be true.
I think the expression is generally used meaning sui generis, of its own kind:
In conversation and in less formal writing, people use sort of or kind of in front of a noun to say that something could be described as being a particular thing.
- It's a sort of dictionary of dictionaries.
- I'm a kind of anarchist, I suppose.
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