Stop-words in Texts: Variability and Elimination Methods
The text is the primary source of information that users encounter when searching for something online. And quite often, while reading an article, we evaluate it — are there any grammatical and punctuation errors in it, does the writing correspond to the actual effectiveness. But there is another variety of textual elements that catch the eye of most readers. And these are stop words or filler words.
Stop words are called so because, to improve the quality of the text, they must be avoided. These are words and phrases that do not carry semantic load but simply accompany the main idea of the written text and also serve as indicators of relationships.
Completely removing stop words from the text is not imperative, as in such a case, it may come off as dry. However, it is essential to maintain an optimal percentage of filler words so that the text remains useful and engaging. Stop words should constitute no more than 30% of the total volume of the text.
To understand which indicator was obtained for you, you can use the most well-known services for verification — Text.ru and Advego. Every copywriter knows how important it is to maintain an optimal level of filler words in the written article. And when necessary, they correct this indicator by making adjustments to the text.
More About Stop Words and Their Risks
Every search engine has its own list of words that it considers filler. This list is regularly reviewed and updated. Therefore, if a search engine finds your page but there is an excessive amount of stop words in its text, it will certainly lower its position in search results.
This does not mean that one should completely abandon stop words. They provide a hue to the text and add logic. We offer you an example: “Unconditionally, Michael is a good employee, moreover, he often performs work for others, but hardly at all, he will receive a bonus at the end of the current year.”
Let’s try to get rid of the filler words in this sentence: “Michael is a good employee, he often performs work for others, he will not receive a bonus at the end of the current year.” As you can see, we removed some stop words without problems, yet losing parts of “but” destroys the link between the two parts of this sentence.
Let’s Move to Basic Categories of Stop Words:
- General. This includes adverbs (mostly, rarely, all), particles (yes, no, not), numerals (15, five, ninth, sixth), conjunctions (but, and), introductory words (certainly, follow, one word), and qualifiers (the largest, enormous, best), interjections (oh, eh, alas, wow).
- Private. The meaning of these words can only be understood if they are written together with main words. For example, you are looking for information about Taras Shevchenko. If you enter in the search string the request “Taras,” then hardly can you find what you need.
- Place names and obvious things. Such words include information, page, document, here, we, you, you.
- Temporal constructions. Phrases “on our days,” “until recently,” “on today’s day” not only do not color the text but also worsen it.
- Indeterminate. The text is perceived as difficult if it contains some information that is incomprehensible due to unknown entities and tries to convey something.
- Overloaded and modal. For example, carrying out work, realizing a plan, necessary, possible, essential.
Filler words should be present in the text but in a minimal amount, as they can harm the text. However, the lack of filler words can also be harmful.
Significantly Increases Indicator Efficiency
As stop words practically have no meaning, they diminish the usefulness of the article, and the efficiency indicator in it will become skewed. If the volume of the text is more important for you than its informativeness, then stop words will serve you very well. Additionally, filler words can be embedded in those texts where it is essential to express a personal view on the problem. In other situations, it is better to get rid of them.
Appears as Cliché Phrases, Irritating Everyone
You have probably seen articles on the internet, the meaning of which boils down to the following sentence: “We are a unique company, and our product occupies leading positions in the market.” Such common phrases today hardly surprise or attract attention since every company considers itself unique.
To interest the reader, you need to speak to the essence and provide specific facts. If your company pays clients for delivery, then tell more about it — what should be the order amount for such conditions and what postal services you use. The word “free” without explanations and especially with a catch, causes only irritation.
Making Proposals Longer and More Complex for Perception
Short and clear sentences without unnecessary phrases are accepted more easily by readers. Therefore, in the text, it is necessary to remove those words without which it would still exist. Especially hard to read and decipher sentences with bizarre forms and passive forms of verbs.
Let’s Get Rid of Stop Words and Make the Text Better
You’ve surely noticed that stop words are present in this text as well. As we already mentioned, it is impossible to do without them entirely. Now we have listed the filler words that often appear in texts and ponder how to avoid them.
Subjective Opinion
Expressing a personal opinion — this is not always good. You can do this if you write for your personal blog, where you are known as the author. But if you write a scientific or artistic article, then its text must be maximally neutral. It is not worth risking other people’s feelings and demonstrating your subjectivity. Better to avoid emotions, subjectivism, and demonstrating your personal attitude towards the written.
Templates
These are expressions that once were perceived by people as interesting or sharp, but over time, they have lost their appeal. For example, a boiling passion, a pre-election campaign, a call to action, a leading manufacturer. These phrases have become so common that they begin to irritate readers.
Introductory Words
If you look at these words separately, you will see that they carry no meaning. But they attract attention to what has been said and highlight it. Often, we use them in conversational speech and, by habit, transport them to the text. These are such words and phrases as “one word,” “without any doubt,” “certainly,” “personally speaking.” Instead of them, it is better to provide an example, a fact, or specific figures.
Euphemisms
These are words that describe something unpleasant, but do so softly and accurately. They should only be applied in those cases if you need to emphasize, for example, negative qualities of a person or their actions. Not “idiot,” but “not smart,” not “old,” but “aged.” It is unnecessary to avoid descriptions of problems and negatives, but doing this must be done very carefully.
Overloaded Words and Phrases
Words tend to occupy an important place in speech and text, so to refuse them is impossible. Here the discourse concerns the situation when instead of one verb, the author writes several in a row and thinks that this way the text will look richer. For instance, write “work” instead of “occupy with work” and “act” instead of “carry out actions.” This will be simpler and clearer for everyone.
Unnecessary Formulations
Unnecessary and confusing formulations are usually used if the author does not know what they are writing about and is not sure of the truthfulness of the written. It can somewhat mislead but does not present clear truth. Every company must clearly understand what it is engaged in, what goals it pursues, and what it wants to achieve. About this, it is necessary to write, and then everything will be honest.
Inaccuracy
When reading any text (especially artistic), we draw a picture in our head. So that this picture is clear, the text must be understandable and sufficient. It is not worth saying that your company executed repairs in more than 300 apartments. To whom does it not matter that the apartment was exactly 323? So write.
The Most Popular Stop Words in Sentences
It has come time to introduce you to the frequently encountered constructions of stop words in articles that we recommend avoiding.
- “Our specialists can translate your documents into any language.”
Here arise doubts that translators possess Basque, Faroese, or Chamoru language. Therefore, it is not worth generalizing and starting to seem omniscient. Add specifics — write that your employees perfectly know English, French, German, Italian, etc.
- “We will stamp three stories on spring for the fiction of the unanticipated bugs.”
What words from this sentence did you understand?
This is a vivid example of slang expressions that only people working in a specific field understand. If you will use similar words in your texts, then it is unlikely that simple readers will comprehend them, and the article for them will be uninformative.
- “We are engaged in a variety of directions and perform a huge spectrum of work.”
This is also often encountered but is very widespread and uninformative to describe the company’s activities. You already know which services you provide? It’s worth writing about them. What exactly can you offer to your client? If a person wants to eat pizza, they will immediately be looking for an Italian restaurant, not an unpleasant establishment where you can eat deliciously and filling at an affordable price.
Conclusion
A good author of articles should feel where the boundary lies between a normal and an excessive number of stop words in the text because, without them, it will definitely not work. The text must be read carefully and slowly to eliminate unnecessary filler words in it. And if it is impossible to achieve the desired indicators, you can always analyze the list of stop words of that search engine where your article will be placed.
