Kind to means nice and caring towards someone: She's kind to everyone. The preposition to shows who the kindness is aimed at: people, animals or yourself. But to thank someone for a specific act, English uses another structure: It's kind of you.
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be kind to + person/animal; be kind to yourself; it's kind of + person + to + verb
- Be kind to the new intern: it's only her second day here.
- The hotel staff were really kind to us when our luggage got lost.
- Try to be kind to yourself after a bad exam result.
What changed
First versionThank you for the flowers, it's very kind from you.
RevisionThank you for the flowers, it's very kind of you.
From can seem logical because the kindness comes from the other person. But in English, the person who did the kind thing is introduced with of: it's kind of you, it was kind of her to help.
Kind of with no person after it is something else entirely: the informal “sort of, a bit”. It's kind of you is a thank-you, while It's kind of cold means “it's a bit cold”. Only what follows tells them apart: a person or an adjective.
Your turn
My boss was very ___ me when I was ill and gave me an extra week off.
Show the answer
kind to — The sentence is about how my boss treated me, so it's kind to me. Kind of me would mean “nice of me” and make me the kind one, not my boss.
Describe someone who helped you through a hard time. Say who it was and what they did.
My landlady was very kind to me when I lost my job: she let me pay the rent a month late.
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