diff --git a/docsite/rst/YAMLSyntax.rst b/docsite/rst/YAMLSyntax.rst
index 4b2ec0535d8..b8d19099eb3 100644
--- a/docsite/rst/YAMLSyntax.rst
+++ b/docsite/rst/YAMLSyntax.rst
@@ -77,18 +77,21 @@ Ansible doesn't really use these too much, but you can also specify a boolean va
     likes_emacs: TRUE
     uses_cvs: false
 
-Values can span multiple lines using *|* or *>* to include newlines or ignore them::
+Values can span multiple lines using *|* or *>*.  Spanning multiple lines using a *|* will include the newlines.  Using a *>* will ignore newlines; it's used to make what would otherwise be a very long line easier to read and edit.
+In either case the indentation will be ignored.
+Examples are::
 
-    ignore_newlines: >
-                this is really a
-                single line of text
-                despite appearances
-                
     include_newlines: |
                 exactly as you see
                 will appear these three
                 lines of poetry
 
+    ignore_newlines: >
+                this is really a
+                single line of text
+                despite appearances
+
+
 Let's combine what we learned so far in an arbitrary YAML example.
 This really has nothing to do with Ansible, but will give you a feel for the format::