Dispersed batch interaction with a question answering system

A computer program product for answering general questions in an information handling system capable of answering questions, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

• receive a general question by a user;
• discard one or more function words in the general question, wherein each of the one or more function words is a preposition, a conjunction, or an article;
• determine an abstraction score for each remaining word in the general question by comparing a hierarchical taxonomy of concepts with a location of a concept in the hierarchical taxonomy corresponding to each remaining word;
• determine a single abstraction score for the general question based on the abstraction score for each remaining word;
• determine that the general question is abstract based on the single abstract score;
• generate a first set of specific questions by generating a first specific question and a second specific question;
• wherein generating a first specific question comprises:
• determining an abstract word from the remaining words,
• identifying a first concrete word, wherein the first concrete word is a first word that is more specific than the abstract word, and
• replacing, in the general question, the abstract word with the first concrete word to generate the first specific question, and
• wherein generating a second specific question comprises:
• determining the abstract word,
• identifying a second concrete word, wherein the second concrete word is a second word that is more specific than the abstract word, and
• replacing, in the general question, the abstract word with the second concrete word to generate the second specific question;
• replace the general question with a first set of specific questions generated based on the hierarchical taxonomy of concepts;
• run the first set of specific questions to obtain a set of specific answers to answer the general question;
• and
• return at least one answer from the set of specific answers to the general question to the user.

A system for answering general questions, the system comprising:

• a memory comprising executable instructions;
• and
• a processor configured to execute the executable instructions causing the processor to:
• receive a general question by a user;
• discard one or more function words in the general question, wherein each of the one or more function words is a preposition, a conjunction, or an article;
• determine an abstraction score for each remaining word in the general question by comparing a hierarchical taxonomy of concepts with a location of a concept in the hierarchical taxonomy corresponding to each remaining word;
• determine a single abstraction score for the general question based on the abstraction score for each remaining word;
• determine that the general question is abstract based on the single abstract score:
• generate a first set of specific questions by generating a first specific question and a second specific question;
• wherein generating a first specific question comprises:
• determining an abstract word from the remaining words,
• identifying a first concrete word, wherein the first concrete word is a first word that is more specific than the abstract word, and
• replacing, in the general question, the abstract word with first the concrete word to generate the first specific question, and
• wherein generating a second specific question comprises:
• determining the abstract word,
• identifying a second concrete word, wherein the second concrete word is a second word that is more specific than the abstract word, and
• replacing, in the general question, the abstract word with the second concrete word to generate the second specific question;
• replace the general question with a first set of specific questions generated based on the hierarchical taxonomy of concepts;
• run the first set of specific questions to obtain a set of specific answers to answer the general question;
• and
• return at least one answer from the set of specific answers to the general question to the user.