diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml
index ae5f3fac75..9ef9abf07d 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml
@@ -247,7 +247,13 @@ COMMIT;
     is sometimes called a <firstterm>transaction block</firstterm>.
    </para>
 
+   <para>
+    Issuing <command>ROLLBACK</command> is only mandatory if you wish to end an otherwise
+    successfully executed transaction by rolling back its work.  Issuing
+    <command>COMMIT</command> on an aborted transaction will cause a rollback to occur
+    anyways.
    <note>
+
     <para>
      Some client libraries issue <command>BEGIN</command> and <command>COMMIT</command>
      commands automatically, so that you might get the effect of transaction
@@ -256,14 +262,16 @@ COMMIT;
     </para>
    </note>
 
+   <title>Sub-Transactions via Savepoints</title>
+
    <para>
     It's possible to control the statements in a transaction in a more
     granular fashion through the use of <firstterm>savepoints</firstterm>.  Savepoints
     allow you to selectively discard parts of the transaction, while
     committing the rest.  After defining a savepoint with
-    <command>SAVEPOINT</command>, you can if needed roll back to the savepoint
+    <command>SAVEPOINT</command>, you can roll back to the savepoint
     with <command>ROLLBACK TO</command>.  All the transaction's database changes
-    between defining the savepoint and rolling back to it are discarded, but
+    between defining the savepoint and rolling back to it are discarded while
     changes earlier than the savepoint are kept.
    </para>
 
@@ -272,8 +280,8 @@ COMMIT;
     roll back to it several times.  Conversely, if you are sure you won't need
     to roll back to a particular savepoint again, it can be released, so the
     system can free some resources.  Keep in mind that either releasing or
-    rolling back to a savepoint
-    will automatically release all savepoints that were defined after it.
+    rolling back to a savepoint will automatically release or rollback,
+    respectively, all savepoints that were defined after it.
    </para>
 
    <para>
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/begin.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/begin.sgml
index c1b3ef9306..7cdd272974 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/begin.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/begin.sgml
@@ -49,13 +49,11 @@ BEGIN [ WORK | TRANSACTION ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">transaction_mode</
   </para>
 
   <para>
-   Pseudo sub-transactions are created using <xref linkend="sql-savepoint"/>.
+   Sub-transactions are created using <xref linkend="sql-savepoint"/>.
    These are of particular use for client software to use when executing
-   user-supplied SQL statements and want to provide try/catch behavior
-   where failures are ignored. The server cannot be configured to do this
-   automatically: all (sub-)transaction blocks either commit or rollback in their
-   entirety. A commit issued while the transaction has an active failure
-   is automatically converted into a <xref linkend="sql-rollback"/>.
+   user-supplied SQL statements and want to provide try/catch behavior.
+   See the advanced tutorial section <xref linkend="tutorial-transactions"/>
+   to learn how tranasctions and sub-transactions work in practice.
   </para>
 
   <para>