Answer Server 25.4
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# NLG

The `NLG` action generates a natural language sentence from a JSON specification that includes details of the parts of speech to use. You can use this action, for example, to generate user-friendly responses for a user interface in a programmatic way.

NOTE: You must use a POST request method.

You send the JSON specification in the Spec parameter. You can retrieve the schema for this JSON object by sending a GetResources action with Type set to `Schema`.

NOTE: You can use `NLG` only if your license permits it. To enable the `NLG` action, you must also include the `[NLG]` section in your configuration file, with Enabled set to `True`, and JarPath set to the location of your `SimpleNLG-4.4.8.jar` file.

## Example

    action=NLG&Spec={
      "sentences": [
        {
          "subject": {
            "noun_phrases": [
              { "value": "the dog" },
              { "value": "your giraffe" }
            ]
          },
          "verb": {
            "verb_phrase": {
              "value": "chase",
              "modifiers": [ "quickly" ]
            }
          },
          "object": {
            "noun_phrases": [
              { "value": "the monkey" },
              { "value": "George" },
              { "value": "Martha" }
            ],
            "conjunction": "or"
          }
        }
      ]
    }

This action generates the following sentence:

The dog and your giraffe quickly chase the monkey, George or Martha.

## Required Parameters

The following action parameters are required.

Parameter | Description
--- | ---
Spec | A JSON object that defines the parts of speech that you want to use to generate natural language.

## Optional Parameters

This action accepts the following standard ACI action parameters.

Parameter | Description
--- | ---
ActionID | A string to use to identify an ACI action.
FileName | The file to write output to.
ForceTemplateRefresh | Forces the server to load the template from disk.
Output | Writes output to a file.
ResponseFormat | The format of the action output.
Template | The template to use for the action output.
TemplateParamCSVs | A list of variables to use for the specified template.

## Response

You can retrieve the full response XSD by sending the GetResources action with Type set to `XSD`.

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Version 25.4 | Last updated October 2025

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Product: Knowledge Discovery Answer Server 25.4

Topic Title: NLG