Quote Originally Posted by iCake View Post
Correct me if I'm wrong but you basically just said that it's safe to omit an article before a counable singular noun if it's preceded by of? And I would be much obliged if you elaborate on this and that things.
I don't know what the general rule is, but in those cases, seems ok. There are times when an article is needed, after 'of'.

After thinking a bit about this, it seems that after 'kind' and 'sort', it is optional.
What kind/sort of (plan, car, tree, fish, rock, animal, plant etc) is it?

What kind/sort of a (plan, car, tree, fish, rock, animal, plant etc) is it?

He's a tall sort of a man. She's a nice kind of a teacher. 'A' is optional in those.

There are probably some other such things. "This is a special type of a plant!" optional a.