diff --git a/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml b/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
index a4d837216e..afd8e49c14 100644
--- a/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
+++ b/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
@@ -303,11 +303,11 @@
                             for building machine "one".
                             To do so, you use an append file named 
                             <filename>base-files.bbappend</filename> and 
-                            create a dependency on a file named  
-                            <filename>foo</filename> that contains the 
-                            altered variables:
+                            create a dependency on "foo" by altering the 
+                            <ulink url='&YOCTO_DOCS_REF_URL;#var-DEPENDS'><filename>DEPENDS</filename></ulink>
+                            variable:
                             <literallayout class='monospaced'>
-     <ulink url='&YOCTO_DOCS_REF_URL;#var-DEPENDS'><filename>DEPENDS</filename></ulink> = "foo"
+     DEPENDS = "foo"
                             </literallayout>
                             The dependency is created during any build that 
                             includes the layer 
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@
                             </literallayout>
                             You should follow the same strategy when using 
                             <filename>_append</filename> and 
-                            <filename>_prepend</filename> overrides:
+                            <filename>_prepend</filename> operations:
                             <literallayout class='monospaced'>
      DEPENDS_append_one = " foo"
      DEPENDS_prepend_one = "foo "
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@
                                 Avoiding "+=" and "=+" and using 
                                 machine-specific 
                                 <filename>_append</filename>
-                                and <filename>_prepend</filename> overrides 
+                                and <filename>_prepend</filename> operations 
                                 is recommended as well.
                             </note></para></listitem>
                         <listitem><para><emphasis>Place Machine-Specific Files