diff --git a/src/doc/trpl/references-and-borrowing.md b/src/doc/trpl/references-and-borrowing.md
index 775a6fbd29358..b27db2ab7bea8 100644
--- a/src/doc/trpl/references-and-borrowing.md
+++ b/src/doc/trpl/references-and-borrowing.md
@@ -151,9 +151,9 @@ As it turns out, there are rules.
 
 Here’s the rules about borrowing in Rust:
 
-First, any borrow must last for a smaller scope than the owner. Second, you may
-have one or the other of these two kinds of borrows, but not both at the same
-time:
+First, any borrow must last for a scope no greater than that of the owner.
+Second, you may have one or the other of these two kinds of borrows, but not
+both at the same time:
 
 * one or more references (`&T`) to a resource.
 * exactly one mutable reference (`&mut T`)