The terms returned by keyword expansion are best described as

• A. Identical To The Original Term
• B. Irrelevant Terms
• C. Highly Correlated, Synonyms, Or Strongly Related Terms
• D. Random Phrases

Answer: (C)

Keyword expansion broadens a query by adding terms that are semantically related to the original term. The terms returned are best described as highly correlated, synonyms, or strongly related terms. This happens because expansion draws on synonyms, related concepts, and statistically associated words from large text datasets to capture the different ways people might express the same idea. These related terms help improve recall by matching more user queries, without drifting into irrelevant or random phrases. For example, expanding “car” might include “automobile,” “vehicle,” or more specific related terms like “sedan,” depending on context. So the words added are connected in meaning, not identical to the original term, which is why this description fits best.