@@ -210,8 +210,8 @@ have to remember to change two places in your program -- the second occurrence
 is hidden at the bottom of the loop.
 
 The best approach is to use iterators, making it possible to loop through
-objects using the ``for`` statement.  For example, in the current version of
-Python file objects support the iterator protocol, so you can now write simply::
+objects using the ``for`` statement.  For example, :term:`file objects
+<file object>` support the iterator protocol, so you can write simply::
 
    for line in f:
        ... # do something with line...
 
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ Module :mod:`aifc` defines the following function:
 .. function:: open(file, mode=None)
 
    Open an AIFF or AIFF-C file and return an object instance with methods that are
-   described below.  The argument *file* is either a string naming a file or a file
-   object.  *mode* must be ``'r'`` or ``'rb'`` when the file must be opened for
-   reading, or ``'w'``  or ``'wb'`` when the file must be opened for writing.  If
-   omitted, ``file.mode`` is used if it exists, otherwise ``'rb'`` is used.  When
+   described below.  The argument *file* is either a string naming a file or a
+   :term:`file object`.  *mode* must be ``'r'`` or ``'rb'`` when the file must be
+   opened for reading, or ``'w'``  or ``'wb'`` when the file must be opened for writing.
+   If omitted, ``file.mode`` is used if it exists, otherwise ``'rb'`` is used.  When
    used for writing, the file object should be seekable, unless you know ahead of
    time how many samples you are going to write in total and use
    :meth:`writeframesraw` and :meth:`setnframes`.
 
@@ -147,11 +147,11 @@ The following data items and methods are also supported:
 
 .. method:: array.fromfile(f, n)
 
-   Read *n* items (as machine values) from the file object *f* and append them to
-   the end of the array.  If less than *n* items are available, :exc:`EOFError` is
-   raised, but the items that were available are still inserted into the array.
-   *f* must be a real built-in file object; something else with a :meth:`read`
-   method won't do.
+   Read *n* items (as machine values) from the :term:`file object` *f* and append
+   them to the end of the array.  If less than *n* items are available,
+   :exc:`EOFError` is raised, but the items that were available are still
+   inserted into the array. *f* must be a real built-in file object; something
+   else with a :meth:`read` method won't do.
 
 
 .. method:: array.fromlist(list)
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ The following data items and methods are also supported:
 
 .. method:: array.tofile(f)
 
-   Write all items (as machine values) to the file object *f*.
+   Write all items (as machine values) to the :term:`file object` *f*.
 
 
 .. method:: array.tolist()
 
@@ -225,9 +225,9 @@ any that have been added to the map during asynchronous service) is closed.
 
 .. class:: file_dispatcher()
 
-   A file_dispatcher takes a file descriptor or file object along with an
-   optional map argument and wraps it for use with the :cfunc:`poll` or
-   :cfunc:`loop` functions.  If provided a file object or anything with a
+   A file_dispatcher takes a file descriptor or :term:`file object` along
+   with an optional map argument and wraps it for use with the :cfunc:`poll`
+   or :cfunc:`loop` functions.  If provided a file object or anything with a
    :cfunc:`fileno` method, that method will be called and passed to the
    :class:`file_wrapper` constructor.  Availability: UNIX.
 
 
@@ -122,9 +122,9 @@ The legacy interface:
 .. function:: decode(input, output)
 
    Decode the contents of the binary *input* file and write the resulting binary
-   data to the *output* file. *input* and *output* must either be file objects
-   or objects that mimic the file object interface working with bytes
-   objects. *input* will be read until ``input.read()`` returns an empty string.
+   data to the *output* file. *input* and *output* must be :term:`file objects
+   <file object>`. *input* will be read until ``input.read()`` returns an empty
+   bytes object.
 
 
 .. function:: decodebytes(s)
@@ -138,11 +138,10 @@ The legacy interface:
 .. function:: encode(input, output)
 
    Encode the contents of the binary *input* file and write the resulting base64
-   encoded data to the *output* file. *input* and *output* must either be file
-   objects or objects that mimic the file object interface working with bytes
-   objects. *input* will be read until ``input.read()`` returns an empty string.
-   :func:`encode` returns the encoded data plus a trailing newline character
-   (``b'\n'``).
+   encoded data to the *output* file. *input* and *output* must be :term:`file
+   objects <file object>`. *input* will be read until ``input.read()`` returns
+   an empty bytes object. :func:`encode` returns the encoded data plus a trailing
+   newline character (``b'\n'``).
 
 
 .. function:: encodebytes(s)
 
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ Here is a summary of the features offered by the bz2 module:
 
 * :class:`BZ2File` class implements universal newline support;
 
-* :class:`BZ2File` class offers an optimized line iteration using the readahead
-  algorithm borrowed from file objects;
+* :class:`BZ2File` class offers an optimized line iteration using a readahead
+  algorithm;
 
 * Sequential (de)compression supported by :class:`BZ2Compressor` and
   :class:`BZ2Decompressor` classes;
 
@@ -422,7 +422,7 @@ RawConfigParser Objects
 
 .. method:: RawConfigParser.write(fileobject, space_around_delimiters=True)
 
-   Write a representation of the configuration to the specified file object,
+   Write a representation of the configuration to the specified :term:`file object`,
    which must be opened in text mode (accepting strings).  This representation
    can be parsed by a future :meth:`read` call. If ``space_around_delimiters``
    is ``True`` (the default), delimiters between keys and values are surrounded
 
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ The :mod:`csv` module defines the following functions:
 
    Return a reader object which will iterate over lines in the given *csvfile*.
    *csvfile* can be any object which supports the :term:`iterator` protocol and returns a
-   string each time its :meth:`!next` method is called --- file objects and list
-   objects are both suitable.   If *csvfile* is a file object, it should be opened
-   with ``newline=''``. [#]_  An optional
+   string each time its :meth:`!next` method is called --- :term:`file objects
+   <file object>` and list objects are both suitable.   If *csvfile* is a file object,
+   it should be opened with ``newline=''``. [#]_  An optional
    *dialect* parameter can be given which is used to define a set of parameters
    specific to a particular CSV dialect.  It may be an instance of a subclass of
    the :class:`Dialect` class or one of the strings returned by the
 
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ Here are the public methods of the :class:`Generator` class, imported from the
 
 .. class:: Generator(outfp, mangle_from_=True, maxheaderlen=78)
 
-   The constructor for the :class:`Generator` class takes a file-like object called
-   *outfp* for an argument.  *outfp* must support the :meth:`write` method and be
-   usable as the output file for the :func:`print` function.
+   The constructor for the :class:`Generator` class takes a :term:`file-like object`
+   called *outfp* for an argument.  *outfp* must support the :meth:`write` method
+   and be usable as the output file for the :func:`print` function.
 
    Optional *mangle_from_* is a flag that, when ``True``, puts a ``>`` character in
    front of any line in the body that starts exactly as ``From``, i.e. ``From``
 
@@ -154,9 +154,9 @@ in the top-level :mod:`email` package namespace.
 
 .. function:: message_from_file(fp[, _class][, strict])
 
-   Return a message object structure tree from an open file object.  This is
-   exactly equivalent to ``Parser().parse(fp)``.  Optional *_class* and *strict*
-   are interpreted as with the :class:`Parser` class constructor.
+   Return a message object structure tree from an open :term:`file object`.
+   This is exactly equivalent to ``Parser().parse(fp)``.  Optional *_class*
+   and *strict* are interpreted as with the :class:`Parser` class constructor.
 
 Here's an example of how you might use this at an interactive Python prompt::