Stop words
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| Stop Words Image Source:- Facebook |
Stop words are those words that do not add any semantic value to the search. Common words such as the,as,are,by,can,for,from,it,in,into etc. come into the category of stop words. Search engines have become smarter in finding out the relationship between words and in this process, it follows the words that can help in finding out the real meaning of a combination of words. Hence, the search engines drop out these stop words in order to return the most relevant and semantic results.
Another big reason, the search engines do not make use of the stop words because these words takes up unnecessary space and time taken to solve a given query. Computers assign space to each and every character and the stop words might take up space which could be used for storing necessary words which adds to the semantic value of searches.
Example
If you are searching with a phrase “The effects of nicotine on human body” then the search engine algorithms would parse it word by word as given below:-
The- “Stop Word” (ignored)
Effects- (included)
of- “Stop Word” (ignored)
nicotine- (included)
on- “Stop Word” (ignored)
Human- (included)
Body- (included)
Hence, the resultant search query would look like:- “effects nicotine human body“. The words chosen after ignoring the stop words are helpful in finding out the semantic value of the search and instead of including 7 words in finding the matches on its web index, it includes just 4 words. In this way it saves both time and space without hampering the quality of search results.
List of Stop Words
(Sorted alphabetically)
A
a
able
about
across
after
all
almost
also
am
ago
among
an
and
ahead
any
always
are
as
at
B
be
because
been
best
between
but
before
by
becomes
C
can
cannot
could
could'nt
D
dear
did
done
don't
do
does
doing
E
either
else
ever
every
each
elsewhere
F
for
from
further
forward
G
get
got
go
gone
goes
going
H
had
hadn't
has
have
haven't
he
her
hers
him
his
how
hence
however
I
i
if
in
inc
into
itself
is
i'm
it
ie
i'll
inward
its
J
just
L
like
likely
let
let's
likewise
M
may
me
might
most
must
makes
make
my
mainly
maybe
N
neither
no
now
nor
not
near
needs
O
of
off
often
on
over
oh
only
overall
or
other
our
own
R
rather
regards
right
really
S
said
say
self
says
see
she
should
selves
seem
since
so
seeming
some
T
than
that
the
their
thereby
them
then
they'd
there
these
they
that's
this
tis
to
they'll
too
twas
think
thorough
U
us
unless
unlike
up
upon
W
wants
was
we
were
what
when
where
which
while
who
whom
will
we'll
with
would
whose
whenever
Y
yet
you
your
yours
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