diff --git a/src/doc/trpl/lifetimes.md b/src/doc/trpl/lifetimes.md
index 0039f90b82c..04ae4c7ccf3 100644
--- a/src/doc/trpl/lifetimes.md
+++ b/src/doc/trpl/lifetimes.md
@@ -134,8 +134,8 @@ x: &'a i32,
 # }
 ```
 
-uses it. So why do we need a lifetime here? We need to ensure that any reference
-to a `Foo` cannot outlive the reference to an `i32` it contains.
+uses it. So why do we need a lifetime here? We need to ensure that any
+reference to the contained `i32` does not outlive the containing `Foo`.
 
 ## Thinking in scopes