diff --git a/man2/syslog.2 b/man2/syslog.2
index 24fc8fc86..4dd9c09c9 100644
--- a/man2/syslog.2
+++ b/man2/syslog.2
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ placing then in the buffer pointed to by
 The call reads the last \fIlen\fP
 bytes from the log buffer (nondestructively),
 but will not read more than was written into the buffer since the
-last "clear ring buffer" command (which does not clear the buffer at all).
+last "clear ring buffer" command (see command 5 below)).
 The call returns the number of bytes read.
 .TP
 .BR SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_CLEAR " (4)"
@@ -118,6 +118,17 @@ The
 and
 .I len
 arguments are ignored.
+.IP
+This command does not really clear the ring buffer.
+Rather, it sets a kernel bookkeeping variable that
+determines the results returned by commands 3 
+.RB ( SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_ALL )
+and 4
+.RB ( SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_CLEAR ).
+This command has no effect on commands 2
+.RB ( SYSLOG_ACTION_READ )
+and 9
+.RB ( SYSLOG_ACTION_SIZE_UNREAD ).
 .TP
 .BR SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_OFF " (6)"
 Disable printk to console.