diff --git a/STYLE b/STYLE
index 6be4a864..44ff1d58 100644
--- a/STYLE
+++ b/STYLE
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ line separating the summary from the body is critical (unless you omit
 the body entirely); tools like rebase can get confused if you run the
 two together.
 
-Write your commit message in the present tense: "Fix bug" and not "Fixed
+Write your commit message in the imperative: "Fix bug" and not "Fixed
 bug."  This convention matches up with commit messages generated by
 commands like git merge and git revert.