Abstract: Embodiments are directed to interaction with an open-domain question and answer system to seek answers to broad and general questions by providing templates and words or phrases to fill slots in the templates that specify alternative specific questions, the answer to any of which may serve the broader purpose. Responses to all of the questions in a batch are considered as candidates, with the strongest general answers being returned. The approach, according to embodiments herein, addresses the need for responses to broad questions in which the user is seeking any response to a known pattern. The user is able to articulate the question as a template that can be instantiated in many forms, and the user may specify how strongly the concrete answers indicate an answer to the underlying general question.