diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 79869073..90c69c2f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ so should be quoted in the provided command configuration, e.g.:
 
     event_notification_command='/path/to/some/script %n %e %s "%t" "%d"'
 
-Additionally the following format placeholders are available for the even
+Additionally the following format placeholders are available for the event
 type `bdr_failover`:
 
     %c - conninfo string of the next available node
diff --git a/dbutils.c b/dbutils.c
index c25f237d..ce1c1192 100644
--- a/dbutils.c
+++ b/dbutils.c
@@ -981,7 +981,7 @@ get_recovery_type(PGconn *conn)
 
 	res = PQexec(conn, sqlquery);
 
-	if (res == NULL || PQresultStatus(res) != PGRES_TUPLES_OK)
+	if (PQresultStatus(res) != PGRES_TUPLES_OK)
 	{
 		log_error(_("unable to determine if server is in recovery:\n  %s"),
 				PQerrorMessage(conn));
diff --git a/repmgr.conf.sample b/repmgr.conf.sample
index 217895fc..95175d77 100644
--- a/repmgr.conf.sample
+++ b/repmgr.conf.sample
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@
                                          # syslog integration, one of LOCAL0, LOCAL1, ..., LOCAL7, USER
 
 #log_file=''                             # stderr can be redirected to an arbitrary file:
-#log_status_interval=300                 # interval (in seconds) for repmgrd to log a message confirming
+#log_status_interval=300                 # interval (in seconds) for repmgrd to log a status message
+
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Event notification settings