Approaches for natural language processing include a multi-layer encoder for encoding words from a context and words from a question in parallel, a multi-layer decoder for decoding the encoded context and the encoded question, a pointer generator for generating distributions over the words from the context, the words from the question, and words in a vocabulary based on an output from the decoder, and a switch. The switch generates a weighting of the distributions over the words from the context, the words from the question, and the words in the vocabulary, generates a composite distribution based on the weighting of the distribution over the first words from the context, the distribution over the second words from the question, and the distribution over the words in the vocabulary, and selects words for inclusion in an answer using the composite distribution.