diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 4732b32037..d1c6b91982 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -3551,7 +3551,7 @@ static void diff_flush_stat(struct diff_filepair *p, struct diff_options *o,
 
 	if ((DIFF_FILE_VALID(p->one) && S_ISDIR(p->one->mode)) ||
 	    (DIFF_FILE_VALID(p->two) && S_ISDIR(p->two->mode)))
-		return; /* no tree diffs in patch format */
+		return; /* no useful stat for tree diffs */
 
 	run_diffstat(p, o, diffstat);
 }
@@ -3564,7 +3564,7 @@ static void diff_flush_checkdiff(struct diff_filepair *p,
 
 	if ((DIFF_FILE_VALID(p->one) && S_ISDIR(p->one->mode)) ||
 	    (DIFF_FILE_VALID(p->two) && S_ISDIR(p->two->mode)))
-		return; /* no tree diffs in patch format */
+		return; /* nothing to check in tree diffs */
 
 	run_checkdiff(p, o);
 }