diff --git a/src/encoding/xml/marshal.go b/src/encoding/xml/marshal.go
index 7ee6700dcc279c..9eb63ee2b13bec 100644
--- a/src/encoding/xml/marshal.go
+++ b/src/encoding/xml/marshal.go
@@ -586,7 +586,7 @@ func (p *printer) marshalValue(val reflect.Value, finfo *fieldInfo, startTemplat
 		}
 	}
 
-	// If a empty name was found, namespace is overridden with an empty space
+	// If an empty name was found, namespace is overridden with an empty space
 	if tinfo.xmlname != nil && start.Name.Space == "" &&
 		tinfo.xmlname.xmlns == "" && tinfo.xmlname.name == "" &&
 		len(p.elements) != 0 && p.elements[len(p.elements)-1].xmlns != "" {