diff --git a/reference/var/functions/empty.xml b/reference/var/functions/empty.xml
index a68906037d..6718bdb184 100644
--- a/reference/var/functions/empty.xml
+++ b/reference/var/functions/empty.xml
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
-<!-- $Revision: 1.4 $ -->
+<!-- $Revision: 1.5 $ -->
 <!-- splitted from ./en/functions/var.xml, last change in rev 1.2 -->
   <refentry id="function.empty">
    <refnamediv>
     <refname>empty</refname>
-    <refpurpose>Determine whether a variable is set</refpurpose>
+    <refpurpose>Determine whether a variable is empty</refpurpose>
    </refnamediv>
    <refsect1>
     <title>Description</title>
@@ -12,49 +12,63 @@
       <type>bool</type><methodname>empty</methodname>
       <methodparam><type>mixed</type><parameter>var</parameter></methodparam>
      </methodsynopsis>
-    <note>
-     <para>
-      <function>empty</function> is a language construct.
-     </para>
-    </note>
-    &note.language-construct;
     <para>
-     This is the opposite of
+     <function>empty</function> returns &false; if
+     <parameter>var</parameter> has a non-empty or non-zero value.  In
+     otherwords, <literal>""</literal>, <literal>0</literal>,
+     <literal>"0"</literal>, &null;, &false;, <literal>array()</literal>,
+     <literal>var $var;</literal>, and objects with empty properties, are
+     all considered empty.  &true; is returned if <parameter>var</parameter>
+     is not empty.  
+    </para>
+    <para>
+     <function>empty</function> is the opposite of
      <literal>(boolean) <parameter>var</parameter></literal>,
      except that no warning is generated when the variable is not set.
      See <link linkend="language.types.boolean.casting">converting
      to boolean</link> for more information.
     </para>
-
-    <!-- Returns &false; if <parameter>var</parameter> is set and has a
-     non-empty or non-zero value; &true; otherwise. -->
-
-     <informalexample>
+    <para>
+     <example>
+      <title>
+       A simple <function>empty</function> / <function>isset</function>
+       comparison.
+      </title>  
       <programlisting role="php">
 <![CDATA[
+<?php
 $var = 0;
 
-if (empty($var)) {  // evaluates true
-    echo '$var is either 0 or not set at all';
+// Evaluates to true because $var is empty
+if (empty($var)) {
+    echo '$var is either 0, empty, or not set at all';
 }
 
-if (!isset($var)) { // evaluates false
-    echo '$var is not set at all';
+// Evaluates as true because $var is set
+if (isset($var)) {
+    echo '$var is set even though it is empty';
 }
+?>
 ]]>
       </programlisting>
-     </informalexample>
+     </example>
+    </para>
 
+    &note.language-construct;
+    
+    <note>
+     <para>
+      <function>empty</function> only checks variables as anything else will
+      result in a parse error.  In otherwords, the following will not work:
+      <command>empty(addslashes($name))</command>.
+     </para>
+    </note>
     <simpara>
-     Note that this is meaningless when used on anything which isn't a
-     variable; i.e. <command>empty (addslashes ($name))</command> has
-     no meaning since it would be checking whether something which
-     isn't a variable is a variable with a &false; value.
-     <!-- will even result in parse error (at least in PHP 4) -->
-    </simpara>
-    <simpara>
-     See also <function>isset</function> and
-     <function>unset</function>.
+     See also <function>isset</function>,
+     <function>unset</function>,
+     <function>array_key_exists</function>,
+     <function>count</function>, and 
+     <function>strlen</function>.
     </simpara>
    </refsect1>
   </refentry>