diff --git a/book/02-git-basics/sections/recording-changes.asc b/book/02-git-basics/sections/recording-changes.asc
index 53de94044..0377a8631 100644
--- a/book/02-git-basics/sections/recording-changes.asc
+++ b/book/02-git-basics/sections/recording-changes.asc
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ $ cat .gitignore
 ----
 
 The first line tells Git to ignore any files ending in ``.o'' or ``.a'' – object and archive files that may be the product of building your code.
-The second line tells Git to ignore all files that end with a tilde (`~`), which is used by many text editors such as Emacs to mark temporary files.
+The second line tells Git to ignore all files whose names end with a tilde (`~`), which is used by many text editors such as Emacs to mark temporary files.
 You may also include a log, tmp, or pid directory; automatically generated documentation; and so on.
 Setting up a `.gitignore` file before you get going is generally a good idea so you don't accidentally commit files that you really don't want in your Git repository.
 
@@ -539,7 +539,7 @@ Or, you can do something like this:
 $ git rm \*~
 ----
 
-This command removes all files that end with `~`.
+This command removes all files whose names end with a `~`.
 
 [[_git_mv]]
 ==== Moving Files
diff --git a/book/08-customizing-git/sections/config.asc b/book/08-customizing-git/sections/config.asc
index 80407cf7d..acbb7972c 100644
--- a/book/08-customizing-git/sections/config.asc
+++ b/book/08-customizing-git/sections/config.asc
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ You can put patterns in your project's `.gitignore` file to have Git not see the
 
 But sometimes you want to ignore certain files for all repositories that you work with.
 If your computer is running Mac OS X, you're probably familiar with `.DS_Store` files.
-If your preferred editor is Emacs or Vim, you know about files that end with a `~` or `.swp`.
+If your preferred editor is Emacs or Vim, you know about filenames that end with a `~` or `.swp`.
 
 This setting lets you write a kind of global `.gitignore` file.
 If you create a `~/.gitignore_global` file with these contents: