diff --git a/gensim/matutils.py b/gensim/matutils.py
index 6cc8c80133..4c92be4562 100644
--- a/gensim/matutils.py
+++ b/gensim/matutils.py
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ def ret_normalized_vec(vec, length):
     else:
         return list(vec)
 
-def ret_log_normalize_vec(vec, axis = 1):
+def ret_log_normalize_vec(vec, axis=1):
     log_max = 100.0
     if len(vec.shape) == 1:
         max_val = numpy.max(vec)
@@ -335,17 +335,17 @@ def ret_log_normalize_vec(vec, axis = 1):
         log_norm = numpy.log(tot) - log_shift
         vec = vec - log_norm
     else:
-        if axis == 1:#independently normalize each sample
+        if axis == 1:  # independently normalize each sample
             max_val = numpy.max(vec, 1)
             log_shift = log_max - numpy.log(vec.shape[1] + 1.0) - max_val
             tot = numpy.sum(numpy.exp(vec + log_shift[:, numpy.newaxis]), 1)
             log_norm = numpy.log(tot) - log_shift
             vec = vec - log_norm[:, numpy.newaxis]
-        elif axis == 0:#normalize each feature
+        elif axis == 0:  # normalize each feature
             k = ret_log_normalize_vec(vec.T)
             return (k[0].T, k[1])
         else:
-            raise ValueError("'%d' is not a supported axis" % axis)
+            raise ValueError("'%s' is not a supported axis" % axis)
     return (vec, log_norm)