1. A computer-implemented process for predicting a text span forming either a single word or a series of two or more words that a user intended to select, comprising: using a computer to perform the following process actions: receiving a document comprising a string of characters; receiving a location pointer indicating a particular location in the document; inputting the document and the location pointer to a plurality of different candidate text span generation methods; receiving a ranked list of one or more scored candidate text spans from each of the different candidate text span generation methods; using a machine-learned ensemble model to re-score each of the scored candidate text spans received from each of the different candidate text span generation methods, the ensemble model being trained using a machine learning method and features from a dataset of true intended user text span selections; and receiving a ranked list of re-scored candidate text spans from the ensemble model.
14. The process of claim 1 , wherein the computer is touch-enabled and comprises a touch-sensitive display screen, the document is displayed on said screen, and the location pointer is generated by the user touching said screen on top of the particular location in the document.