diff --git a/source/reference/configuration-options.txt b/source/reference/configuration-options.txt
index 4eb0c5eac3a..d0ce97f6d1d 100644
--- a/source/reference/configuration-options.txt
+++ b/source/reference/configuration-options.txt
@@ -515,12 +515,12 @@ Settings
    Set to ``true`` to modify MongoDB to use a smaller default data
    file size. Specifically, :setting:`smallfiles` reduces the initial
    size for data files and limits them to 512
-   megabytes. :setting:`smallfiles` also reduces the size of each
+   megabytes. The :setting:`smallfiles` setting also reduces the size of each
    :term:`journal` files from 1 gigabyte to 128 megabytes.
 
-   Use :setting:`smallfiles` if you have a large number of databases
-   that each holds a small quantity of data. :setting:`smallfiles` can
-   lead your :program:`mongod` to create a large number of files,
+   Use the :setting:`smallfiles` setting if you have a large number of databases
+   that each hold a small quantity of data. The :setting:`smallfiles` setting can
+   lead :program:`mongod` to create many files,
    which may affect performance for larger databases.
 
 .. setting:: syncdelay