40. An apparatus comprising: a memory that stores executable instructions for determining an appropriate response to an input; and a processor that executes the instructions to: link a plurality of attributes to a plurality of response templates using a plurality of Boolean expressions, each attribute associated with a set of patterns, with each pattern within the set of patterns being equivalent; receive the input; and determine an appropriate response template for the received input, the appropriate response template selected from the plurality of response templates based on the input, by instructions to: determine matches of the input to patterns; rank the patterns; and select the corresponding response template based on the ranked patterns.
40. An apparatus comprising: a memory that stores executable instructions for determining an appropriate response to an input; and a processor that executes the instructions to: link a plurality of attributes to a plurality of response templates using a plurality of Boolean expressions, each attribute associated with a set of patterns, with each pattern within the set of patterns being equivalent; receive the input; and determine an appropriate response template for the received input, the appropriate response template selected from the plurality of response templates based on the input, by instructions to: determine matches of the input to patterns; rank the patterns; and select the corresponding response template based on the ranked patterns. 43. The apparatus of claim 40 wherein being equivalent comprises being semantically equivalent.