Reword to match user manual.

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/man/chown.x b/man/chown.x
index 7102f76f6..09289de8c 100644
--- a/man/chown.x
+++ b/man/chown.x
@@ -5,18 +5,19 @@ This manual page
 documents the GNU version of
 .BR chown .
 .B chown
-changes the user and/or group ownership of each given file, according
-to its first non-option argument, which is interpreted as follows.  If
-only a user name (or numeric user ID) is given, that user is made the
+changes the user and/or group ownership of each given file.  If
+only an owner (a user name or numeric user ID) is given, that user is made the
 owner of each given file, and the files' group is not changed.  If the
-user name is followed by a colon or dot and a group name (or numeric group ID),
+owner is followed by a colon and a group name (or numeric group ID),
 with no spaces between them, the group ownership of the files is
-changed as well.  If a colon or dot but no group name follows the user name,
+changed as well.  If a colon but no group name follows the user name,
 that user is made the owner of the files and the group of the files is
-changed to that user's login group.  If the colon or dot and group are given,
-but the user name is omitted, only the group of the files is changed;
+changed to that user's login group.  If the colon and group are given,
+but the owner is omitted, only the group of the files is changed;
 in this case,
 .B chown
 performs the same function as
 .BR chgrp .
+If only a colon is given, or if the entire operand is empty, neither the
+owner nor the group is changed.
 .SH OPTIONS