diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d5533a3992263..6cf204e48a403 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ For builds of julia starting with 0.5.0-dev, you can create out-of-tree builds o
 
 If you need to build Julia in an environment that does not allow access to the outside world, use `make -C deps getall` to download all the necessary files. Then, copy the `julia` directory over to the target environment and build with `make`.
 
-**Note:** the build process fail badly if any of the build directory's parent directories have spaces or other shell meta-characters such as `$` or `:` in their names (this is due to a limitation in GNU make).
+**Note:** the build process will fail badly if any of the build directory's parent directories have spaces or other shell meta-characters such as `$` or `:` in their names (this is due to a limitation in GNU make).
 
 Once it is built, you can run the `julia` executable using its full path in the directory created above (the `julia` directory), or, to run it from anywhere, either
 - add an alias (in `bash`: `echo "alias julia='/path/to/install/folder/bin/julia'" >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc`), or