diff --git a/Documentation/git-show-ref.txt b/Documentation/git-show-ref.txt
index 2f173fff356282..98e294aa869d39 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-show-ref.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-show-ref.txt
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ The --exclude-existing form is a filter that does the inverse, it shows the
 refs from stdin that don't exist in the local repository.
 
 Use of this utility is encouraged in favor of directly accessing files under
-in the `.git` directory.
+the `.git` directory.
 
 OPTIONS
 -------
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ OPTIONS
 -s::
 --hash::
 
-	Only show the SHA1 hash, not the reference name. When also using
+	Only show the SHA1 hash, not the reference name. When combined with
 	--dereference the dereferenced tag will still be shown after the SHA1.
 
 --verify::
diff --git a/Documentation/git-svn.txt b/Documentation/git-svn.txt
index 1c40894669d6f8..74be8435cccf40 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-svn.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-svn.txt
@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@ pulled or merged from.  This is because the author favored
 If you use `git svn set-tree A..B` to commit several diffs and you do
 not have the latest remotes/git-svn merged into my-branch, you should
 use `git svn rebase` to update your work branch instead of `git pull` or
-`git merge`.  `pull`/`merge' can cause non-linear history to be flattened
+`git merge`.  `pull`/`merge` can cause non-linear history to be flattened
 when committing into SVN, which can lead to merge commits reversing
 previous commits in SVN.
 
diff --git a/ll-merge.c b/ll-merge.c
index 81c02ad0531e98..f7c2bc9278a906 100644
--- a/ll-merge.c
+++ b/ll-merge.c
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ static int read_merge_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 
 	if (!strcmp(var, "merge.default")) {
 		if (value)
-			default_ll_merge = strdup(value);
+			default_ll_merge = xstrdup(value);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ static int read_merge_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 	if (!strcmp("name", ep)) {
 		if (!value)
 			return error("%s: lacks value", var);
-		fn->description = strdup(value);
+		fn->description = xstrdup(value);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -295,14 +295,14 @@ static int read_merge_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		 * file named by %A, and signal that it has done with zero exit
 		 * status.
 		 */
-		fn->cmdline = strdup(value);
+		fn->cmdline = xstrdup(value);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
 	if (!strcmp("recursive", ep)) {
 		if (!value)
 			return error("%s: lacks value", var);
-		fn->recursive = strdup(value);
+		fn->recursive = xstrdup(value);
 		return 0;
 	}