Learn English – Meaning of “earn their keep”

idioms

Omitting needless words, however, does not mean cutting out every single word that is redundant in context. As we shall see, many omissible words earn their keep by preventing the reader from making a wrong turn as she navigates her way through the sentence.

I would like to ask question regarding the usage of idiom "earn their keep" in the above clause. "Earn one's keep" means "earn enough to pay for the basic necessities". From the context I derived that the author wants to say that sometimes it is useful and meaningful writing omissible words. Is the usage of this idiom in this context when we do not talk about people standard?

Best Answer

To earn one's keep means to perform some labor in return for room and board. Used figuratively, it means to do something to justify one's presence.

Here, omissible words are being personified as traffic cops for the lady driver ;-)