The phrase "a sort of respect" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to express a vague or general feeling of respect that may not be fully defined or strong.
Example: "He had a sort of respect for her dedication, even if he didn't always agree with her methods."
Alternatives: "a kind of respect" or "a type of respect".
Any regime that is scared of the truth is not a regime that deserves any sort of respect.
"A lot of very intelligent, liberal Russians who I've spoken to would say that the west has completely lost all sort of respect towards us.
The shoot-outs are realistically staged, the body count is roughly one American to around 20 of their foes, and this being a propaganda picture on identical lines to those of the second world war, there's no room for any sort of respect for the enemy or any understanding of his motives.
I then tried to excel in academics, as that's what my peers were doing, and was what I thought I had to do to gain any sort of respect within the Indian community.
"There is a sort of grudging respect for him," said Jason West, a former investment banker who is now an associate professor at Griffith University in Brisbane.
"It's true that when I was growing up, there was a sort of division: respect was accorded to people who made great movies and to people who made movies that made a lot of money," he said.
The Sun has since written about him with a sort of grudging respect, as if he has pulled the wool over the world's eyes with his eccentric art and deserves to be congratulated.
"Lady Bird" isn't a film that is stuck in conventions; it's one that borrows them, but from within, not quoting them but treating them, too, with a sort of practical respect for a mature art that's akin to the very reconciliations that are built into the story itself.
My stepfather spent much of my and my sister's teenage years reading Turgenev and smoking roll-ups in the back yard: this earned him a sort of gradual, grudging respect from us.
