diff --git a/man2/request_key.2 b/man2/request_key.2
index 1a9cba825..78c91bdce 100644
--- a/man2/request_key.2
+++ b/man2/request_key.2
@@ -21,26 +21,28 @@ request_key \- request a key from the kernel's key management facility
 .fi
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .BR request_key ()
-asks the kernel to find a key of the given
+attempts to find a key of the given
 .I type
-that matches the specified
+with a description (name) that matches the specified
 .I description
-and, if successful, to attach it to the nominated
+and, if successful, attaches it to the nominated
 .I keyring
-and to return its serial number.
+and returns its serial number.
 .P
 .BR request_key ()
-first recursively searches all the keyrings attached to the calling process in
-the order thread-specific keyring, process-specific keyring and then session
-keyring for a matching key.
+first recursively searches for a matching key in all of the keyrings
+attached to the calling process.
+The keyrings are searched in the order: thread-specific keyring,
+process-specific keyring, and then session keyring.
 .P
 If
 .BR request_key ()
 is called from a program invoked by
 .BR request_key ()
 on behalf of some other process to generate a key, then the keyrings of that
-other process will be searched next, using that other process's UID, GID,
-groups, and security context to control access.
+other process will be searched next,
+using that other process's user ID, group ID,
+supplementary group IDs, and security context to control access.
 .P
 The keys in each keyring searched are checked for a match before any child
 keyrings are recursed into.
@@ -52,11 +54,11 @@ keyrings may be searched.
 .P
 If the key is not found, then, if
 .I callout_info
-is set, this function will attempt to look further afield.
+is not NULL, this function will attempt to look further afield.
 In such a case, the
 .I callout_info
 is passed to a user-space service such as
-.B /sbin/request\-key
+.I /sbin/request\-key
 to generate the key.
 .P
 If that is unsuccessful also, then an error will be returned, and a temporary
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@ to fail until it does.
 The
 .I keyring
 serial number may be that of a valid keyring to which the caller has write
-permission, or it may be a special keyring ID:
+permission, or it may be one of the following special keyring IDs:
 .TP
 .B KEY_SPEC_THREAD_KEYRING
 This specifies the caller's thread-specific keyring.
@@ -92,11 +94,12 @@ will displace any other key of the same type and description from the
 destination
 .IR keyring .
 .SH RETURN VALUE
-On success
+On success,
 .BR request_key ()
 returns the serial number of the key it found.
-On error, the value \-1
-will be returned and errno will have been set to an appropriate error.
+On error, \-1 is returned and
+.I errno
+is set to indicate the cause of the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EACCES