The phrase "a sort of phantom" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe something that is elusive, insubstantial, or not fully formed, often evoking a sense of mystery or ghostliness.
Example: "In the dim light of the old house, she felt the presence of a sort of phantom, lingering just out of sight."
Alternatives: "a kind of ghost" or "a type of specter".
Instead, Obama never effectively challenged the image of Guantánamo as a sort of Phantom Zone of super villains, rather than the humiliating hodgepodge it is.
Illegal immigrants were rare in southeast Ohio, a sort of phantom menace; Cotter's awareness of the issue had mainly come through the media.
A sort of phantom foot reaction lingered only briefly, as I instinctively wanted to reach for the gas with my right foot.
There is a popular notion at large, part of a sort of phantom "bi-partisan" centrist conviction, that the degradation of American infrastructure, exemplified by the backwardness of our trains and airports, too, is a failure of the American political system.
Despite being regarded in Somalia as a sort of phantom limb, with virtually no external help, this state has built itself up by a remarkable series of internal peace agreements and democratic consolidation to its current situation as a functioning democracy.
But the advances in storage, bandwidth, and processing power over the last 10 years or so have made it so that we use the Internet as a sort of phantom extension of our own computers, putting things where they are accessible to us but we are not responsible for them.
He is this hyper-real, fantastical character - a sort of mysterious phantom, almost super-powered - whereas the others are all very realist.
Oh, the righteous fury, the excellent sandwiches, and of course, Henry Porter, all ruffly hair and crumpled folder, swooping in and out of the hall and lobby, a sort of benign Phantom of the Convention.
"Aren't we all some sort of phantom, not a whole lot different from the guy I'm eavesdropping on?" Journalists, businesspeople and aid workers based abroad regularly interact with the local population.
"Most of them have been as sort of phantom rumors and hearsay, but a few have been more credible though still anonymous whistleblower sources.
