Quick wins for a faster PC:
Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Natural language generation (NLG) turns non-linguistic information—such as database records, sensor readings, or a representation of meaning—into text or speech. It covers much more than chatbots: an NLG system might write a report from structured data, summarize a document, answer a question, or produce part of a dialogue. Its output must do more than sound natural; it should preserve the information and meet the needs of its intended reader.
What is natural language generation?
NLG is the process of producing language from input that is not already expressed as the desired text or speech. The input may be structured, such as database rows, or may be an internal representation of information. The system decides what to communicate and how to express it.
NLG is a field of tasks and methods, not a single model or product category. A rule-based report generator, a data-to-text system, and a language model producing a conversational response can all perform NLG, even if they use very different architectures. The IEEE overview emphasizes the central challenge: preserve the input information while expressing it in language people can use. Gatt and Krahmer’s 2018 survey reviews the field’s tasks, architectures, applications, and evaluation.
How does NLG work?
A classic way to understand NLG is as a sequence of decisions: determine the content, choose how to express it, then form grammatical sentences. This model is useful for understanding the work a system must do, but it does not mean every modern system has three separate modules.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
#1 Best Overall
- Read Before You Buy — No Video Output: These adapters support charging and USB 2.0 data transfer, but cannot transmit video signals. Except for standard USB webcams (which use USB data only), they are not compatible with HDMI/DisplayPort cables, video-capable USB-C hubs, or docking stations with video output.
- Convert USB-A Ports to USB-C: Designed to connect USB-C earphones, cables, flash drives, card readers, and other USB-C accessories to standard USB-A ports. Plug-and-play with no drivers or software required.
- Aluminum Alloy Housing: Built with a sturdy aluminum alloy shell that aids in heat dissipation and protects against daily wear and scratches. Designed to maintain a stable and secure connection.
- Compact & Travel-Friendly: The ultra-compact design allows the adapter to stay plugged into your device without blocking adjacent ports or adding bulk, reducing wear and tear on your original USB ports.
- 12-Month Warranty: Backed by a 12-month manufacturer warranty for peace of mind. Designed to meet strict quality control standards for reliable everyday performance.
1. Document planning: decide what to say
The system selects and organizes information for the intended document. It may need to prioritize some facts, leave out irrelevant details, or arrange content so that the result answers the reader’s question. The quality of later wording cannot make up for selecting the wrong facts or omitting an essential one.
2. Microplanning: decide how to express the content
Microplanning covers choices such as which words to use, how to refer to people or things, whether related facts can be combined into one sentence, and how to organize nearby ideas. The goal is to make the selected information clear and coherent without changing its meaning.
3. Surface realization: form the sentences
Surface realization turns the plan into grammatical language. It handles sentence structure and the forms needed to express relationships such as time, quantity, or cause. A correctly formed sentence can still be misleading if the earlier content-selection or wording decisions were wrong.
Rank #2
- 5-in-1 USB-C Hub: Experience comprehensive connectivity featuring a Power Delivery input, two USB-A 2.0 ports, a USB-A 3.0 port, and an HDMI port. (Note: The USB-C power delivery input port is only for connecting an external wall charger to power your laptop and cannot power peripheral devices.)
- 90W Pass-Through Charging: Achieve optimal charging with 90W pass-through power to your laptop, supported by a total input of 100W, with the hub reserving 10W for operational efficiency. (Note: Wall charger not included.)
- Quick Data Transfers: Accelerate your productivity with rapid data transfers using a high-speed 5Gbps USB 3.0 port and two 480Mbps USB 2.0 ports.
- 4K HDMI Display: Enhance your visual experience with a hub capable of delivering 4K resolution at 30Hz in both mirror and extend modes. Please note that this hub is compatible with MacBook (macOS 12 and newer), Windows 10 and 11, ChromeOS, and laptops equipped with DP Alt Mode and Power Delivery. Note: This device is not compatible with Linux.
- What You Get: Anker USB-C Hub (5-in-1, 4K HDMI), welcome guide, 18-month warranty, and our friendly customer service.
Reiter and Dale’s technical treatment, Building Natural Language Generation Systems, describes document planning, microplanning, and surface realization as core components. Modern data-driven systems and language models may learn or combine these functions rather than exposing them as distinct stages. The stages are therefore a mental model for the decisions involved, not a guarantee about a particular system’s internal design.
A simple data-to-text example
Suppose a system receives records showing that a fictional shop sold 12 items on Monday and 15 on Tuesday. A concise output might say, “The shop sold 15 items on Tuesday, up from 12 on Monday.” To produce that sentence, a system must identify the relevant records, determine the direction of change, choose wording, and express the comparison clearly. The sentence is useful only if the records support every stated detail.
What are examples of NLG?
NLG appears in different tasks, and the input and success criteria change with the task. The following examples illustrate the distinctions; they are not a ranking of systems.
Rank #3
- Sleek 7-in-1 USB-C Hub: Features an HDMI port, two USB-A 3.0 ports, and a USB-C data port, each providing 5Gbps transfer speeds. It also includes a USB-C PD input port for charging up to 100W and dual SD and TF card slots, all in a compact design.
- Flawless 4K@60Hz Video with HDMI: Delivers exceptional clarity and smoothness with its 4K@60Hz HDMI port, making it ideal for high-definition presentations and entertainment. (Note: Only the HDMI port supports video projection; the USB-C port is for data transfer only.)
- Double Up on Efficiency: The two USB-A 3.0 ports and a USB-C port support a fast 5Gbps data rate, significantly boosting your transfer speeds and improving productivity.
- Fast and Reliable 85W Charging: Offers high-capacity, speedy charging for laptops up to 85W, so you spend less time tethered to an outlet and more time being productive.
- What You Get: Anker USB-C Hub (7-in-1), welcome guide, 18-month warranty, and our friendly customer service.
| Task | Typical input | Generated output | What matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data-to-text reporting | Structured records, database rows, or other data | A report or plain-language description of selected values and patterns | Claims should match the source values, and the selection should fit the report’s purpose. |
| Summarization | A longer text or collection of information | A shorter account of its important points | The summary should preserve key meaning and avoid adding unsupported claims. |
| Dialogue generation | A conversation and relevant context | A response in the conversation | The response should address the context and be appropriate to the interaction. |
| Generative question answering | A question and information used to answer it | A generated answer | The answer should respond to the question and be supported by the available information. |
| Machine translation | Text in one language | Text in another language | The meaning should be conveyed accurately in the target language. |
These task categories are covered in the broader NLG literature, including Gatt and Krahmer’s 2018 survey. A 2023 review in ACM Computing Surveys examines hallucination research across abstractive summarization, dialogue generation, generative question answering, data-to-text generation, and machine translation. The breadth of these tasks is one reason a result that works for one use case should not be assumed to work equally well for another.
How should you compare NLG systems?
Start with the job the system must do, not a general claim that it can “write.” Two systems may both generate fluent text while accepting different inputs, following different constraints, or requiring different levels of review. Compare them on the dimensions that affect your use case:
- Input: Is the source structured data, existing text, conversation context, or another representation? How clearly can the system access the information it is expected to use?
- Task and output: Does it need to report values, summarize, answer a question, translate, or respond in a dialogue? Specify the intended reader, format, and level of detail.
- Planning and realization: Are the content and wording decisions explicitly controlled, learned, or combined? An explicit pipeline can make stages easier to inspect; a learned approach may combine them. Neither description alone establishes quality.
- Control: Can the system reliably follow required wording, structure, length, or output format? Check the constraints that matter to the actual workflow.
- Faithfulness and error handling: Can you trace generated claims back to source information? What happens when inputs are missing, inconsistent, or outside the system’s intended task?
- Evaluation: Are outputs checked against task-specific criteria and source information, or judged only by a general score?
- Human review: Which outputs need a person to verify claims or approve the final text before it is used?
Do not treat broad model capability as a tested result for your own task. A comparison is meaningful when the systems receive comparable inputs and are judged against the same requirements.
Rank #4
- Dual Converters, Infinite Potential：Includes 2× USB C male to USB A female adapters and 2× USB A male to USB C female adapters. Perfect for a wide range of uses—tablets with Bluetooth keyboards, expand USB ports on macbook, and more. Two different converters for all your daily needs
- Next-Level 10Gbps & 3A Charging: No more slow 480Mbps, this usb to usb c adapter has a transfer speed of up to 10Gbps, allowing you to do more transferring in less time. This usb adapter fits both USB A and USB C charger, supporting up to 3A fast charging
- Upgraded Exquisite Craftsmanship: With an aluminum alloy housing and metal connector, the usbc to usb adapter is extremely durable and sturdy. Rigorously tested to withstand more than 10,000 times of plugging and unplugging, ensuring long-lasting performance
- Broad Compatible: The usb c to usb adapter widely supports all USB C/ USB A devices like laptops, tablets, cellphones, car chargers, and phone chargers. Such as compatible with MacBook Pro/Air 2023/2022, Thunderbolt 4/3 Devices,Apple MagSafe Watch 9/8/7/SE/Ultra, iPad Pro 2022/2021, Samsung Galaxy S23/S20/S10, and iPhone 17/16/15 Pro. Plug and play
- Please Note: To reach 10Gbps speed, keep the cable under 3.3 ft. For USB A Male to USB C adapters, try flipping the USB C connector. USB C Male to USB A adapters support bidirectional 10Gbps transfer within 3.3 ft
How do you evaluate generated text?
Fluency and factual faithfulness are separate qualities. A sentence can be grammatical, coherent, and wrong. Evaluation should reflect the intended task and ask whether the output communicates the right information, not merely whether it reads smoothly.
Check the output against the task
Define what a successful result must do. A data report may need to state selected values correctly; a summary may need to retain key points; an answer may need to respond to the specific question. Check adequacy and factual faithfulness alongside fluency and coherence. These criteria address different failure modes and should not be collapsed into one impression.
Use automatic measures as evidence, not proof
Automatic measures can help compare outputs under controlled conditions, but a score does not establish that every claim is true or useful. Gatt and Krahmer’s 2018 survey identifies NLG evaluation as a continuing challenge. The 2023 ACM Computing Surveys review examines how hallucinated content is measured and mitigated across generation tasks. Neither supports treating one universal score as a truth test.
Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchPC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Best Value
- 5-in-1 Connectivity: Equipped with a 4K HDMI port, a 5 Gbps USB-C data port, two 5 Gbps USB-A ports, and a USB C 100W PD-IN port. Note: The USB C 100W PD-IN port supports only charging and does not support data transfer devices such as headphones or speakers.
- Powerful Pass-Through Charging: Supports up to 85W pass-through charging so you can power up your laptop while you use the hub. Note: Pass-through charging requires a charger (not included). Note: To achieve full power for iPad, we recommend using a 45W wall charger.
- Transfer Files in Seconds: Move files to and from your laptop at speeds of up to 5 Gbps via the USB-C and USB-A data ports. Note: The USB C 5Gbps Data port does not support video output.
- HD Display: Connect to the HDMI port to stream or mirror content to an external monitor in resolutions of up to 4K@30Hz. Note: The USB-C ports do not support video output.
- What You Get: Anker 332 USB-C Hub (5-in-1), welcome guide, our worry-free 18-month warranty, and friendly customer service.
Trace important claims to their sources
For consequential uses, check generated claims against the source data or text, and use human review where appropriate. A practical review can ask whether each important statement is supported, whether values and relationships were preserved, and whether the output leaves out information needed to interpret a claim. The degree of checking should reflect the consequences of an error and the task’s requirements.
What can’t be concluded from general NLG research?
NLG research surveys explain tasks, architectures, applications, and reliability challenges; they do not establish a universal performance figure for all systems or tasks. The sources discussed here also do not establish a current market-size or adoption statistic. A performance or market claim needs evidence for the particular measure, population, system, and date involved.
Quick Recap
Further reading on natural language generation
- For a broad current overview: Ehud Reiter’s Natural Language Generation (Springer, 2025) is described by its publisher as a textbook covering data-to-text, summarization, requirements, design, testing, evaluation, safety, and applications.
- For classic architecture and implementation: Ehud Reiter and Robert Dale’s Building Natural Language Generation Systems (Cambridge University Press) covers the practical design of NLG systems, including the core planning and realization stages.
- For interactive generation: Natural Language Generation in Interactive Systems (Cambridge University Press, 2014) focuses on interactive settings, including dialogue systems, multimodal interfaces, and assistive technologies.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
