Problem: What type of thing is the question "What does U.S.S.R. stand for ?" asking about?
Answer: abbreviation

Problem: What type of thing is the question "What incident caused the canning of a summit conference between Eisenhower and Khrushchev ?" asking about?
Answer: description

Problem: What type of thing is the question "What city was President William McKinley shot in ?" asking about?
Answer:
location