diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e70ae8ab..77872c5a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,32 +1,32 @@
 Significant changes for nfs-utils 1.1.0 - March/April 2007
 
- - rpc.lockd is gone.  One 3 old kernel releases need it.
- - rpc.rquotad is gone.  Use the one from the 'quota' package.
-   Everone else does.
+ - rpc.lockd is gone. One 3 old kernel releases need it.
+ - rpc.rquotad is gone. Use the one from the 'quota' package.
+   Everyone else does.
  - /sbin/{u,}mount.nfs{,4} are now installed so 'mount' will
    use these to mount nfs filesystems instead of internal code.
   + mount.nfs will check for 'statd' to be running when mounting
-    a filesystem which requires it.  If it is not running it will
+    a filesystem which requires it. If it is not running it will
     run "/usr/sbin/start-statd" to try to start it.
     If statd is not running and cannot be started, mount.nfs will
     refuse to mount the filesystem and will suggest the 'nolock'
     option.
  - Substantial changes to statd
   + The 'notify' process that must happen at boot has been split
-    into a separate program "sm-notify".  It ensures that it
-    only runs once even if you restart statd.  This is correct
+    into a separate program "sm-notify". It ensures that it
+    only runs once even if you restart statd. This is correct
     behaviour.
   + statd stores state in the files in /var/lib/nfs/sm/ so that
     if you kill and restart it, it will restore that state and
     continue working correctly.
   + statd makes more use of DNS lookup and should handle
-    multi-homed peers better.  In particular, files in
+    multi-homed peers better. In particular, files in
     /var/lib/nfs/sm/ are named with the Full Qualified Domain Name
     if available.
  - If you export a directory as 'crossmnt', all filesystems
    mounted beneath are automatically exported with the same
    options (unless explicitly exported with different options).
- - subtree_check is no-longer the default.  The default is now
+ - subtree_check is no-longer the default. The default is now
    no_subtree_check.
  - By default the system 'rpcgen' is used while building
    nfs-utils rather than the internal one.
@@ -43,14 +43,14 @@ Significant changes for nfs-utils 1.1.0 - March/April 2007
 
  - A new option, -n, was added to rpc.gssd which specifies that
    accesses by root should not use 'machine credentials' when
-   accessing NFS file systems mounted with Kerberos.  Using this
+   accessing NFS file systems mounted with Kerberos. Using this
    option allows the root user to access the NFS space using any
    Kerberos principal, rather than always using the machine
-   credentials.  However, its use also requires that root manually
+   credentials. However, its use also requires that root manually
    authenticate before attempting a mount with Kerberos.
 
    When rpc.gssd uses machine credentials, the selection algorithm has
-   been changed.  Instead of simply using the first "nfs/*" key in the
+   been changed. Instead of simply using the first "nfs/*" key in the
    keytab, the keytab is now searched for keys in the following
    defined order:
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5d9cbf31..0a108171 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -688,12 +688,12 @@ AC_SUBST([AM_CFLAGS], ["$my_am_cflags $flg1 $flg2 $flg3 $flg4 $flg5"])
 # Make sure that $ACLOCAL_FLAGS are used during a rebuild
 AC_SUBST([ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS], ["-I $ac_macro_dir \$(ACLOCAL_FLAGS)"])
 
-# make _sysconfdir available for substituion in config files
+# make _sysconfdir available for substitution in config files
 # 2 "evals" needed late to expand variable names.
 AC_SUBST([_sysconfdir])
 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS_PRE([eval eval _sysconfdir=$sysconfdir])
 
-# make _statedir available for substituion in config files
+# make _statedir available for substitution in config files
 # 2 "evals" needed late to expand variable names.
 AC_SUBST([_statedir])
 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS_PRE([eval eval _statedir=$statedir])
@@ -705,7 +705,7 @@ else
 fi
 AC_SUBST(rpc_pipefsmount)
 
-# make _rpc_pipefsmount available for substituion in config files
+# make _rpc_pipefsmount available for substitution in config files
 # 2 "evals" needed late to expand variable names.
 AC_SUBST([_rpc_pipefsmount])
 AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS_PRE([eval eval _rpc_pipefsmount=$rpc_pipefsmount])
