diff --git a/cassandra/policies.py b/cassandra/policies.py
index 26b9aa4c5a..36063abafe 100644
--- a/cassandra/policies.py
+++ b/cassandra/policies.py
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@ def on_request_error(self, query, consistency, error, retry_num):
         `retry_num` counts how many times the operation has been retried, so
         the first time this method is called, `retry_num` will be 0.
 
-        The default, it triggers a retry on the next host in the query plan
+        By default, it triggers a retry on the next host in the query plan
         with the same consistency level.
         """
         # TODO revisit this for the next major