diff --git a/language/references.xml b/language/references.xml
index 437275c8e0..1ceeecf907 100644
--- a/language/references.xml
+++ b/language/references.xml
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ foo($bar);
    <title>Passing by Reference</title>
    <para>
    You can pass variable to function by reference, so that function could modify
-   its arguments. The sytax is as follows:
+   its arguments. The syntax is as follows:
     <informalexample>
      <programlisting role="php">
 function foo (&amp;$var) {