Lesson 11: How to ask answerable knowledge-base questions
Can I borrow tomorrow? Even a librarian might ask whether you mean opening hours or a particular book’s eligibility. A knowledge-base assistant faces the same ambiguity. Many passages containing borrow may not answer your intent.
Which missing detail changes the answer?
Questions need not resemble forms, but answer-changing objects, times, and conditions matter. Borrow longer might mean an original loan or renewal; more might mean quantity or duration. Ambiguity can swap B and C.
Tomorrow depends on an established today. In this exercise it means the 18th only if today is assumed to be 17 October 2026. Use known context or ask, rather than impose the exceptional date.
Do not interrogate every clear question, such as an explicit ordinary-book loan period. Ask when the missing detail can change the answer.
A clear question can still lack evidence
G answers maximum room duration, not current availability. Clear wording cannot derive live free rooms from static rules; another data source is needed.
Do not blame every unanswered query on poor phrasing. Check both clarity and coverage.
One question can require two lookups
Visiting on the 18th to borrow three books concerns both hours and quantity. B allows three but D closes the library. Answering yes from quantity alone misses the visit condition.
Separate opening and quantity, retrieve support, then answer the combined question. Decomposition helps avoid omissions; the parts still need a coherent conclusion.
Write five questions covering quantity, a renewal paraphrase, a specific date, document plus quantity, and deposits. Predict evidence, then clarify one vague question without changing object, time, or conditions.
Compare expected evidence
Quantity needs B, renewal C, the 18th D, document plus quantity F/B, and deposits additional evidence. Confirm whether keeping a book longer means renewal instead of silently switching to original loan duration.
Further reading: Microsoft: RAG information retrieval
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