diff --git a/bugpattern/AnnotateFormatMethod.md b/bugpattern/AnnotateFormatMethod.md
index b2bf5d19422..c4c9ed0237e 100644
--- a/bugpattern/AnnotateFormatMethod.md
+++ b/bugpattern/AnnotateFormatMethod.md
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 ---
 title: AnnotateFormatMethod
-summary: This method passes a pair of parameters through to String.format, but the
-  enclosing method wasn't annotated @FormatMethod. Doing so gives compile-time rather
-  than run-time protection against malformed format strings.
+summary: This method uses a pair of parameters as a format string and its arguments,
+  but the enclosing method wasn't annotated @FormatMethod. Doing so gives compile-time
+  rather than run-time protection against malformed format strings.
 layout: bugpattern
 tags: FragileCode
 severity: WARNING
diff --git a/bugpatterns.md b/bugpatterns.md
index 9f1ff3c6a82..fee33ef3c39 100644
--- a/bugpatterns.md
+++ b/bugpatterns.md
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ __[AmbiguousMethodReference](bugpattern/AmbiguousMethodReference)__<br>
 Method reference is ambiguous
 
 __[AnnotateFormatMethod](bugpattern/AnnotateFormatMethod)__<br>
-This method passes a pair of parameters through to String.format, but the enclosing method wasn&#39;t annotated @FormatMethod. Doing so gives compile-time rather than run-time protection against malformed format strings.
+This method uses a pair of parameters as a format string and its arguments, but the enclosing method wasn&#39;t annotated @FormatMethod. Doing so gives compile-time rather than run-time protection against malformed format strings.
 
 __[ArgumentSelectionDefectChecker](bugpattern/ArgumentSelectionDefectChecker)__<br>
 Arguments are in the wrong order or could be commented for clarity.