diff --git a/DOCS/tech/svn-howto.txt b/DOCS/tech/svn-howto.txt
index 3385dde736..0f98897c9f 100644
--- a/DOCS/tech/svn-howto.txt
+++ b/DOCS/tech/svn-howto.txt
@@ -129,18 +129,18 @@ I. BASICS:
 
 8. Renaming/moving/copying files or contents of files:
 
-  svn move <source> <destination>    / svn copy <source> <destination>
+  svn move <source> <destination>
+  svn copy <source> <destination>
   svn commit <source> <destination>
 
-  Do not move, rename or copy files maintained by others than yourself without
-  discussing it on the mplayer-dev-eng mailing list first!
+  Do not move, rename or copy files not maintained by you without discussing
+  it on the mplayer-dev-eng mailing list first!
 
-  Always try to preserve the history and minimize the size of svn diff, don't
-  copy or move a file by svn delete and svn add, always use svn move or 
-  svn copy instead
+  In order to preserve history and minimize the size of diffs, do not copy or
+  move a file by using 'svn delete' and 'svn add'. Always use 'svn move' or
+  'svn copy' instead.
 
-  To split a file in 2 use svn copy and remove the lines which are not needed
-  from each file
+  To split a file use 'svn copy' and remove the unneeded lines from each file.
 
   Don't do a lot of cut'n'paste from one file to another without a very good
   reason and discuss it on the mplayer-dev-eng mailing list first. It will make