diff --git a/bisect.c b/bisect.c
index 21bc6daa43..8e63c40d27 100644
--- a/bisect.c
+++ b/bisect.c
@@ -747,7 +747,7 @@ static void handle_bad_merge_base(void)
 		exit(3);
 	}
 
-	fprintf(stderr, _("Some %s revs are not ancestor of the %s rev.\n"
+	fprintf(stderr, _("Some %s revs are not ancestors of the %s rev.\n"
 		"git bisect cannot work properly in this case.\n"
 		"Maybe you mistook %s and %s revs?\n"),
 		term_good, term_bad, term_good, term_bad);
diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
index 6c76a6ed66..e3cb8082f7 100644
--- a/builtin/clone.c
+++ b/builtin/clone.c
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ static struct option builtin_clone_options[] = {
 	OPT_STRING(0, "shallow-since", &option_since, N_("time"),
 		    N_("create a shallow clone since a specific time")),
 	OPT_STRING_LIST(0, "shallow-exclude", &option_not, N_("revision"),
-			N_("deepen history of shallow clone by excluding rev")),
+			N_("deepen history of shallow clone, excluding rev")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "single-branch", &option_single_branch,
 		    N_("clone only one branch, HEAD or --branch")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "shallow-submodules", &option_shallow_submodules,
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index b6a5597cbf..fc74c8471c 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ static struct option builtin_fetch_options[] = {
 	OPT_STRING(0, "shallow-since", &deepen_since, N_("time"),
 		   N_("deepen history of shallow repository based on time")),
 	OPT_STRING_LIST(0, "shallow-exclude", &deepen_not, N_("revision"),
-			N_("deepen history of shallow clone by excluding rev")),
+			N_("deepen history of shallow clone, excluding rev")),
 	OPT_INTEGER(0, "deepen", &deepen_relative,
 		    N_("deepen history of shallow clone")),
 	{ OPTION_SET_INT, 0, "unshallow", &unshallow, NULL,
diff --git a/builtin/receive-pack.c b/builtin/receive-pack.c
index e6b3879a5b..6b97cbdbe9 100644
--- a/builtin/receive-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/receive-pack.c
@@ -795,8 +795,8 @@ static char *refuse_unconfigured_deny_msg =
 	   "with what you pushed, and will require 'git reset --hard' to match\n"
 	   "the work tree to HEAD.\n"
 	   "\n"
-	   "You can set 'receive.denyCurrentBranch' configuration variable to\n"
-	   "'ignore' or 'warn' in the remote repository to allow pushing into\n"
+	   "You can set the 'receive.denyCurrentBranch' configuration variable\n"
+	   "to 'ignore' or 'warn' in the remote repository to allow pushing into\n"
 	   "its current branch; however, this is not recommended unless you\n"
 	   "arranged to update its work tree to match what you pushed in some\n"
 	   "other way.\n"