diff --git a/docs/bayes.md b/docs/bayes.md
index 136bcd9..284b68e 100644
--- a/docs/bayes.md
+++ b/docs/bayes.md
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new 'Interesting', 'Uninteresting', backend
 
 ## Beyond the Basics
 
-Beyond the basic example, the constructor and trainer can be used in a more flexible way to accommodate non-trival applications.
+Beyond the basic example, the constructor and trainer can be used in a more flexible way to accommodate non-trivial applications.
 Consider the following program.
 
 ```ruby
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ require 'classifier-reborn'
 training_set = DATA.read.split("\n")
 categories   = training_set.shift.split(',').map{|c| c.strip}
 
-# pass :auto_categorize option to allow feeding previously unknown categories
+# Pass :auto_categorize option to allow feeding previously unknown categories
 classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new categories, auto_categorize: true
 
 training_set.each do |a_line|
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ training_set.each do |a_line|
 end
 
 puts classifier.classify "I hate bad words and you" #=> 'Uninteresting'
-puts classifier.classify "I hate javascript" #=> 'Uninteresting'
+puts classifier.classify "I hate JavaScript" #=> 'Uninteresting'
 puts classifier.classify "JavaScript is bad" #=> 'Uninteresting'
 
 puts classifier.classify "All you need is ruby" #=> 'Interesting'
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ interesting: The love boat, soon we will be taking another ride
 interesting: Ruby don't take your love to town
 
 uninteresting: Here are some bad words, I hate you
-uninteresting: Bad bad leroy brown badest man in the darn town
+uninteresting: Bad bad Leroy Brown badest man in the darn town
 uninteresting: The good the bad and the ugly
 uninteresting: Java, JavaScript, CSS front-end HTML
 #
@@ -119,12 +119,57 @@ dog: A good hunting dog is a fine thing
 dog: Man my dogs are tired
 dog: Dogs are better than cats in soooo many ways
 
-cat: The fuzz ball spilt the milk
+cat: The fuzz ball spilled the milk
 cat: Got rats or mice get a cat to kill them
 cat: Cats never come when you call them
 cat: That dang cat keeps scratching the furniture
 ```
 
+If no categories are specified at initialization then `:auto_categorize` is set to `true` by default.
+However, dynamic methods like `train_some_category` or `untrain_some_category` will not work unless corresponding categories exist.
+
+```ruby
+require 'classifier-reborn'
+
+classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new
+classifier.train("cat", "I can has cat")
+# The above method will work, but the following will throw an error
+# classifier.train_cat "I can has cat"
+```
+
+## Custom Stopwords
+
+The library ships with stopword files in various languages.
+However, in certain situations a custom stopwords list is desired for the domain specific classifiers.
+Custom stopwords can be specified at the classifier initialization by supplying an array of stopwords or path to load a stopwords file.
+These stopwords will only be applied for the language of the classifier instance.
+To disable stopwords completely, pass an empty string (`""`) or empty array (`[]`) as the value of the `:stopwords` parameter.
+
+```ruby
+require 'classifier-reborn'
+
+custom_stopwords = ["custom", "stop", "words"]
+classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: custom_stopwords
+# Or from a file
+classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: "/path/to/custom/stopwords/file"
+# Or to disable stopwords
+classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: ""
+# Alternatively, to disable stopwords
+classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: []
+```
+
+Training and untraing with empty strings or strings that consist of only stopwords will be skipped.
+While an attempt to classify such strings will return `nil` or a category with score `Infinity` (based on whether threshold is enabled).
+
+The above method of custom stopwords will overwrite the existing stopwords for the language of the classifier instance.
+However, to supplement the existing set of stopwords, more directory paths containing stopwordsword files can be added.
+In this case, each stopwords file name needs to be the same as the corresponding language code, such as `en` for English or `ar` for Arabic.
+
+
+```ruby
+ClassifierReborn::Hasher.add_custom_stopword_path(/path/to/additional/stopwords/directory)
+```
+
 ## Knowing the Score
 
 When you ask a Bayesian classifier to classify text against a set of trained categories it does so by generating a score (as a Float) for each possible category.
diff --git a/lib/classifier-reborn/bayes.rb b/lib/classifier-reborn/bayes.rb
index fd64787..da3014e 100644
--- a/lib/classifier-reborn/bayes.rb
+++ b/lib/classifier-reborn/bayes.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 # Copyright:: Copyright (c) 2005 Lucas Carlson
 # License::   LGPL
 
+require 'set'
+
 require_relative 'category_namer'
 require_relative 'backends/bayes_memory_backend'
 require_relative 'backends/bayes_redis_backend'
@@ -16,10 +18,11 @@ class Bayes
     #
     # Options available are:
     #   language:         'en'                    Used to select language specific stop words
-    #   auto_categorize:  false                   When true, enables ability to dynamically declare a category
+    #   auto_categorize:  false                   When true, enables ability to dynamically declare a category; the default is true if no initial categories are provided
     #   enable_threshold: false                   When true, enables a threshold requirement for classifition
     #   threshold:        0.0                     Default threshold, only used when enabled
     #   enable_stemmer:   true                    When false, disables word stemming
+    #   stopwords:        nil                     Accepts path to a text file or an array of words, when supplied, overwrites the default stopwords; assign empty string or array to disable stopwords
     #   backend:          BayesMemoryBackend.new  Alternatively, BayesRedisBackend.new for persistent storage
     def initialize(*args)
       initial_categories = []
@@ -51,6 +54,10 @@ def initialize(*args)
       initial_categories.each do |c|
         add_category(c)
       end
+
+      if options.key?(:stopwords)
+        custom_stopwords options[:stopwords]
+      end
     end
 
     # Provides a general training method for all categories specified in Bayes#new
@@ -236,5 +243,21 @@ def add_category(category)
     end
 
     alias_method :append_category, :add_category
+
+    private
+
+    # Overwrites the default stopwords for current language with supplied list of stopwords or file
+    def custom_stopwords(stopwords)
+      unless stopwords.is_a?(Enumerable)
+        if stopwords.strip.empty?
+          stopwords = []
+        elsif File.exist?(stopwords)
+          stopwords = File.read(stopwords).force_encoding("utf-8").split
+        else
+          return # Do not overwrite the default
+        end
+      end
+      Hasher::STOPWORDS[@language] = Set.new stopwords
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/bayes/bayesian_common_tests.rb b/test/bayes/bayesian_common_tests.rb
index 38f26f6..6c86755 100644
--- a/test/bayes/bayesian_common_tests.rb
+++ b/test/bayes/bayesian_common_tests.rb
@@ -36,14 +36,14 @@ def test_add_category
 
   def test_dynamic_category_succeeds_with_auto_categorize
     classifier = auto_categorize_classifier
-    classifier.train('Ruby', 'I really sweet language')
+    classifier.train('Ruby', 'A really sweet language')
     assert classifier.categories.include?('Ruby')
   end
 
   def test_dynamic_category_succeeds_with_empty_categories
     classifier = empty_classifier
     assert classifier.categories.empty?
-    classifier.train('Ruby', 'I really sweet language')
+    classifier.train('Ruby', 'A really sweet language')
     assert classifier.categories.include?('Ruby')
     assert_equal 1, classifier.categories.size
   end
@@ -133,4 +133,49 @@ def test_untrain
     classification_after_untrain = @classifier.classify 'seven'
     refute_equal classification_of_bad_data, classification_after_untrain
   end
+
+  def test_skip_empty_training_and_classification
+    classifier = empty_classifier
+    classifier.train('Ruby', '')
+    assert classifier.categories.empty?
+    classifier.train('Ruby', 'To be or not to be')
+    assert classifier.categories.empty?
+    classifier.train('Ruby', 'A really sweet language')
+    refute classifier.categories.empty?
+    assert_equal Float::INFINITY, classifier.classify_with_score('To be or not to be')[1]
+  end
+
+  def test_empty_string_stopwords
+    classifier = empty_string_stopwords_classifier
+    classifier.train('Stopwords', 'To be or not to be')
+    refute classifier.categories.empty?
+    refute_equal Float::INFINITY, classifier.classify_with_score('To be or not to be')[1]
+  end
+
+  def test_empty_array_stopwords
+    classifier = empty_array_stopwords_classifier
+    classifier.train('Stopwords', 'To be or not to be')
+    refute classifier.categories.empty?
+    refute_equal Float::INFINITY, classifier.classify_with_score('To be or not to be')[1]
+  end
+
+  def test_custom_array_stopwords
+    classifier = array_stopwords_classifier
+    classifier.train('Stopwords', 'Custom stopwords')
+    assert classifier.categories.empty?
+    classifier.train('Stopwords', 'To be or not to be')
+    refute classifier.categories.empty?
+    assert_equal Float::INFINITY, classifier.classify_with_score('These stopwords')[1]
+    refute_equal Float::INFINITY, classifier.classify_with_score('To be or not to be')[1]
+  end
+
+  def test_custom_file_stopwords
+    classifier = file_stopwords_classifier
+    classifier.train('Stopwords', 'Custom stopwords')
+    assert classifier.categories.empty?
+    classifier.train('Stopwords', 'To be or not to be')
+    refute classifier.categories.empty?
+    assert_equal Float::INFINITY, classifier.classify_with_score('These stopwords')[1]
+    refute_equal Float::INFINITY, classifier.classify_with_score('To be or not to be')[1]
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/bayes/bayesian_memory_test.rb b/test/bayes/bayesian_memory_test.rb
index 67a3f00..8077026 100755
--- a/test/bayes/bayesian_memory_test.rb
+++ b/test/bayes/bayesian_memory_test.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ class BayesianMemoryTest < Minitest::Test
 
   def setup
     @classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new 'Interesting', 'Uninteresting'
+    @old_stopwords = Hasher::STOPWORDS['en']
+  end
+
+  def teardown
+    Hasher::STOPWORDS['en'] = @old_stopwords
   end
 
   def another_classifier
@@ -29,4 +34,20 @@ def empty_classifier
   def useless_classifier
     ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new auto_categorize: false
   end
+
+  def empty_string_stopwords_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: ""
+  end
+
+  def empty_array_stopwords_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: []
+  end
+
+  def array_stopwords_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: ["these", "are", "custom", "stopwords"]
+  end
+
+  def file_stopwords_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../data/stopwords/en'
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/bayes/bayesian_redis_test.rb b/test/bayes/bayesian_redis_test.rb
index ac4a79a..1e0213d 100644
--- a/test/bayes/bayesian_redis_test.rb
+++ b/test/bayes/bayesian_redis_test.rb
@@ -12,12 +12,14 @@ def setup
       @redis_backend.instance_variable_get(:@redis).config(:set, "save", "")
       @alternate_redis_backend = ClassifierReborn::BayesRedisBackend.new(db: 1)
       @classifier = ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new 'Interesting', 'Uninteresting', backend: @redis_backend
+      @old_stopwords = Hasher::STOPWORDS['en']
     rescue Redis::CannotConnectError => e
       skip(e)
     end
   end
 
   def teardown
+    Hasher::STOPWORDS['en'] = @old_stopwords
     @redis_backend.instance_variable_get(:@redis).flushdb
     @alternate_redis_backend.instance_variable_get(:@redis).flushdb
   end
@@ -34,11 +36,27 @@ def threshold_classifier(category)
     ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new category, backend: @alternate_redis_backend
   end
 
-    def empty_classifier
-      ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new backend: @alternate_redis_backend
-    end
+  def empty_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new backend: @alternate_redis_backend
+  end
 
-    def useless_classifier
-      ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new auto_categorize: false, backend: @alternate_redis_backend
-    end
+  def useless_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new auto_categorize: false, backend: @alternate_redis_backend
+  end
+
+  def empty_string_stopwords_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: "", backend: @alternate_redis_backend
+  end
+
+  def empty_array_stopwords_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: [], backend: @alternate_redis_backend
+  end
+
+  def array_stopwords_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: ["these", "are", "custom", "stopwords"], backend: @alternate_redis_backend
+  end
+
+  def file_stopwords_classifier
+    ClassifierReborn::Bayes.new stopwords: File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../data/stopwords/en', backend: @alternate_redis_backend
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/data/stopwords/en b/test/data/stopwords/en
index 271c6a6..e5d3723 100644
--- a/test/data/stopwords/en
+++ b/test/data/stopwords/en
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-These
+these
 are
 custom
-stopwords
\ No newline at end of file
+stopwords