What kind or Which kind?

Carla writes:
I have a question. Which are the differences between which kind, and what kind? I think the correct way is which kind. Also, interesting or intresting?

This was such a good question I really had to think about it for a few days. It seems to me that they're largely interchangeable--but not completely.

You can say "Which kind of ice cream would you like?" or "What kind of ice cream..." No real difference.

But a classic song is titled "What Kind of Fool Am I?" and it would sound odd as "Which Kind"! Same with "What kind of monster would do such a thing to a harmless puppy?"

The difference is that the last two questions are rhetorical--we don't really want someone to answer by saying what kind fool I am, or to name the kind of monster. We're really making a statement in the form of a question: I'm a fool. He's a monster.

So if you're asking a rhetorical question, use "What kind." If you really want to know the answer, use "Which kind" or "What kind."

As for your second question, it's interesting. That's two e's, so you can remind yourself of the correct spelling by telling yourself, "I can spell interesting with e's."

Comments

[English]

We use What and Which to ask about things.

We usually use "what" when there are many possible answers:
What’s her name?

We normally use "which" when there are only a few possible answers:
Which pencil is yours, the orange
one or the yellow one?

See my great Free english site at
http://www.speakenglish.biz

[Jerome C.]

In my understanding, "which kind" implies that a choice is expected, while "what kind" is a more open-ended form that does not necessarily call for a choice or even a reply.

[AngelZash]

I have to agree with English on this. To borrow your example, "what" would imply that you can pick any ice cream, not just the types of ice cream the store has listed as available. However, "which" implies that you should only pick from the available ice creams listed.

For example, a certain restaurant only offers Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry ice cream. When the waiter asks you, "What kind of ice cream would you like," you could concievably answer, "Chocolate Chip." He did not ask you to choose from the listed ice creams. However, he does ask you to choose from the list if he asks, "Which kind of ice cream would you like?" With this second question, you only have three possible answers, none of which are "Chocolate Chip." So, despite "Chocolate Chip" being the ice cream you would prefer, you would only say one of the listed three.

[Deanne Cobb]

This is an intriguing question and I would answer it differently than all of the above.

I would not use "Which" with any kind of qualifier in a noun phrase such as "type of" or "kind of". Which is typically used with the base noun (e.g., ice cream) so the question would be "which ice cream" or "which ice cream flavor would you like" whereas what is used when there is a qualifier "what kind of fool am I?" "what type of music do you prefer" etc. For me the issue isn't one of hypothetical or amount of choice but rather a grammatical issue.