A SYTEM AND METHOD FOR PARSING A NATURAL LANGUAGE INPUT SPAN USING A CANDIDATE LIST TO GENERATE ALTERNATIVE NODES

An improved natural language parser uses a directed search template set to identify problematic word sequences, thus reducing processing time while increasing accuracy. The directed search template set is used to identify problematic input spans or portions of input spans. A problematic input span is one that contains at least one word or phrase that can be constructed in alternative ways. Problematic input spans can reduce the efficiency of a natural language parser and can result in the production of an inaccurate parse tree. Once a problematic span has been identified, the improved parser generates alternative parses for the problematic portion of the input span. This on-the-fly alternative parse generation permits the parser to consider the alternatives as early in the parse process as possible, thus reducing the overall time needed to parse a problematic input span.