Embodiments for processing questions based on equivalence classes in a cognitive question answering system. A plurality of syntactic representations of a plurality of questions asked of the cognitive question answering system are provided. A plurality of syntactic representations of a plurality of passages ingested by the cognitive question answering system are provided. Question focus to candidate passage pairs are mapped to form an equivalence class mapping, and the equivalence class mapping is used to determine an answer to one of the plurality of questions asked of the cognitive question answering system.
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