diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/pgstandby.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/pgstandby.sgml
index fb3f32eaaa40e0d788184fe96cf42f0693f818d4..80c6f6006206686de1a17fd18f1bf1399b23450f 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/pgstandby.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/pgstandby.sgml
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ recovery_end_command = 'del C:\pgsql.trigger.5442'
    The <literal>copy</> command on Windows sets the final file size
    before the file is completely copied, which would ordinarily confuse
    <application>pg_standby</application>.  Therefore
-   <application>pg_standby</application> waits <literal>sleeptime</>
+   <application>pg_standby</application> waits <replaceable>sleeptime</>
    seconds once it sees the proper file size.  GNUWin32's <literal>cp</>
    sets the file size only after the file copy is complete.
   </para>
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_xlogdump.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_xlogdump.sgml
index 296f1acc2432e97d82d379f3abf97a0856e1cb04..177caab00d4e524e822787b56eac98b417bc1267 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_xlogdump.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_xlogdump.sgml
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
       <listitem>
        <para>
         Timeline from which to read log records. The default is to use the
-        value in <literal>startseg</>, if that is specified; otherwise, the
+        value in <replaceable>startseg</>, if that is specified; otherwise, the
         default is 1.
        </para>
       </listitem>
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pgbench.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pgbench.sgml
index f58da351f90c07f267b98d24e5964cd5cd2ea7db..285608d508ab773fc20ea37acf72e00c9042c169 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pgbench.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pgbench.sgml
@@ -433,7 +433,7 @@ pgbench <optional> <replaceable>options</> </optional> <replaceable>dbname</>
       <term><option>--progress=</option><replaceable>sec</></term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
-        Show progress report every <literal>sec</> seconds.  The report
+        Show progress report every <replaceable>sec</> seconds.  The report
         includes the time since the beginning of the run, the tps since the
         last report, and the transaction latency average and standard
         deviation since the last report.  Under throttling (<option>-R</>),
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
index d9bce25f337fa1e7741fdd96d27bbb7ee68037b8..8a66ce79833e52bd9c1a1b03bbd7459b99bb4870 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
@@ -830,7 +830,7 @@ testdb=&gt;
         <para>
         Establishes a new connection to a <productname>PostgreSQL</>
         server.  The connection parameters to use can be specified either
-        using a positional syntax, or using <literal>conninfo</> connection
+        using a positional syntax, or using <replaceable>conninfo</> connection
         strings as detailed in <xref linkend="libpq-connstring">.
         </para>
 
@@ -838,7 +838,7 @@ testdb=&gt;
         Where the command omits database name, user, host, or port, the new
         connection can reuse values from the previous connection.  By default,
         values from the previous connection are reused except when processing
-        a <literal>conninfo</> string.  Passing a first argument
+        a <replaceable>conninfo</> string.  Passing a first argument
         of <literal>-reuse-previous=on</>
         or <literal>-reuse-previous=off</literal> overrides that default.
         When the command neither specifies nor reuses a particular parameter,