diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 55c31aa..9190596 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -962,7 +962,7 @@ name.go         names: {x as n} bindings, the scopes they live in, and the reads
 namefence.go    the load fences over names
 pick.go         a render's named picks: the frames of the name scopes rendering, the memo a pick keeps, and the reads kept under it
 env.go          renderEnv: what a render reads names and rows through
-path.go         the dotted-path walks, and proving a path resolves
+path.go         the dotted-path walks, and proving a path reaches a node
 render.go       Fake, the recursive renderer (choices, format strings, expansions) and the reads its tokens make
 record.go       records: Record, the JSON/CSV/SQL serializers, and their entry points
 struct.go       structs: FakeStruct, fake tags as one record's columns, and a field's Go type as its column's datatype
diff --git a/data.go b/data.go
index ba62626..6d89042 100644
--- a/data.go
+++ b/data.go
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ func mergeChildren(dst, src map[string]node) {
 	}
 }
 
-// nodeSet is the set of nodes one validation pass covers: the categories one load
-// reads, or a single inline node.
+// nodeSet is the set of nodes one validation pass covers: one load's categories, or a
+// single inline node.
 type nodeSet func(fn func(label string, n node) error) error
 
 // categorySite is a loaded category and where it sits: the folder holding it, that
diff --git a/doc.go b/doc.go
index 474c1de..d1a427a 100644
--- a/doc.go
+++ b/doc.go
@@ -23,22 +23,22 @@ package fejkdata
 //     `Generator.Fake`, `FakeRecord`, `Template.Fake` and `RecordTemplate.Fake`
 //     start one each, and `FakeStruct` one per record.
 //   - env — what a render reads names and rows through: `renderEnv`.
+//   - scope — where a name is bound: a category, or one repeat iteration: `nameScope`.
 //   - named pick — the draw a token such as {/person as p} binds to a name, drawn
 //     on its first read and kept while its scope renders: `nameBinding`,
 //     `namedPick`, `pickFrame`.
-//   - scope — where a name is bound: a category, or one repeat iteration: `nameScope`.
 //   - memo — what a named pick keeps its draws in, the variant drawn at each level
 //     and the value each path read: `drawMemo`.
 //   - pin — fixing which row of a table one path, or one named pick, uses:
 //     `pinSet`, `namedPick.pins`, `table.drawStep`.
-//   - family — a table and every table reaching it through a chain of parent
-//     links.
 //   - link — a table's tie to its parent table, each row to its parent row:
 //     `table.linkParent`.
-//   - resolve — tying each template's references and names to the assembled tree:
-//     `resolveTemplates`.
-//   - head — the string a read starts from: a field's name, or a reference's
-//     category path with its sigil, /sv_SE.address: `arm.head`. The node it names is
+//   - family — a table and every table reaching it through a chain of parent
+//     links.
+//   - resolve — tying a reference or a name to what it names in the assembled tree:
+//     `resolveTemplates`, `resolveRefs`.
+//   - head — the string a read starts from: a field or a name as written, or a
+//     reference's category path with its sigil, /sv_SE.address: `arm.head`. The node it names is
 //     the read's start: `template.startOf`, `nameTarget.start`.
 //   - fence — a load-time check, run over each category, template or struct as it
 //     loads or compiles, so rendering a compiled tree cannot fail.
diff --git a/format.go b/format.go
index 832cc8b..88a7454 100644
--- a/format.go
+++ b/format.go
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func checkArm(name string, fields map[string]node, wholeToken bool) (missing boo
 		}
 		return true, fmt.Errorf("no field %q", a.head)
 	}
-	if err := checkPathResolves(field, a.tail, a.head); err != nil {
+	if err := checkPathReaches(field, a.tail, a.head); err != nil {
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("field %q: %w", a.head, err)
 	}
 	return false, nil
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ func (t *template) compileArm(name string, targets map[*nameBinding]nameTarget)
 	}
 	target := targets[b]
 	full := append(target.tail[:len(target.tail):len(target.tail)], a.tail...)
-	if err := checkPathResolves(target.start, full, a.head); err != nil {
+	if err := checkPathReaches(target.start, full, a.head); err != nil {
 		return a, err
 	}
 	w := compilePath(target.start, full)
diff --git a/path.go b/path.go
index cd7f6e6..1659d2d 100644
--- a/path.go
+++ b/path.go
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ const (
 	stepParent // up to the table's parent, at the row its own row links to
 )
 
-// pathCheck proves a path resolves whichever way the draws go: every variant of a
+// pathCheck proves a path reaches a node whichever way the draws go: every variant of a
 // choice carries the rest of it, and is walked, a selector names a row inside the
 // rows selected before it, and no level read carries a repeat. It compiles the steps
 // a draw takes, and every leaf the path may render; level names the head in its errors.
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ func (w *pathCheck) walkEvery(c *choice, tail []string) (node, error) {
 	return last, nil
 }
 
-// probePath proves a path resolves without drawing, appending to steps the steps a
+// probePath proves a path reaches a node without drawing, appending to steps the steps a
 // draw takes. Where pathCheck walks every variant of a choice, it walks the first,
 // which carriedByAll lets stand for all.
 func probePath(n node, tail []string, steps []pathStep) ([]pathStep, error) {
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ func (t *table) step(tail []string) (column node, child *table, err error) {
 	return nil, d.Owner(), nil
 }
 
-// carriedByAll is the choice rule a path that must resolve on every call obeys:
+// carriedByAll is the choice rule a path that must reach a node on every call obeys:
 // the rest of the tail must be one every variant carries.
 func carriedByAll(c *choice, rest []string) error {
 	if want := strings.Join(rest, "."); !c.shared[want] {
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ func unreachableInChoice(c *choice, want string) error {
 	return fmt.Errorf("not every variant of this %d-way choice carries %q; all carry %v", len(c.items), want, offered)
 }
 
-func checkPathResolves(n node, tail []string, level string) error {
+func checkPathReaches(n node, tail []string, level string) error {
 	_, err := (&pathCheck{level: level, tail: tail}).run(n)
 	return err
 }
diff --git a/path_test.go b/path_test.go
index 8c02d84..dc43fab 100644
--- a/path_test.go
+++ b/path_test.go
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ func TestPathKeyIsUnambiguous(t *testing.T) {
 	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), `field "a.b" contains "."`) {
 		t.Fatalf("New = %v, want the dotted field name rejected", err)
 	}
-	// The same data without the dotted key is fine, and the path resolves.
+	// The same data without the dotted key is fine, and the path reaches a node.
 	f := newGenerator(t, writeData(t, map[string]string{
 		"cat": `{"format":"{a.b}","a":{"format":"{b}","b":"2"}}`,
 	}), WithSeed(1))
diff --git a/reference.go b/reference.go
index 8514b94..4ed0b96 100644
--- a/reference.go
+++ b/reference.go
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func (t *template) resolveRefs(folder []string, label, category string, root map
 		if category != "" && head == "/"+category {
 			return refs, fmt.Errorf("%s: reference {%s}: names the category it sits in; read a sibling field as a path, or move the shared value into its own category and reference that", label, name)
 		}
-		if err := checkPathResolves(target, tail, head); err != nil {
+		if err := checkPathReaches(target, tail, head); err != nil {
 			return refs, fmt.Errorf("%s: reference {%s}: %w", label, name, err)
 		}
 		refs.categories[head] = target