1. A system for predicting a lexical answer types (LAT) in a question comprising: a memory storage device including a plurality of syntactic frames; a processor device operatively connected to said memory storage device and configured to: receive a question text string; extract at least one syntactic frame from said question string, designate, in said syntactic frame, a placeholder for an entity corresponding to a potential lexical answer type; and query a lexical knowledge database to automatically obtain at least one replacement term for said placeholder of said at least one syntactic frame, wherein said entity placeholder is a part of a question focus indicating a LAT of the question.