diff --git a/src/pair_table.cpp b/src/pair_table.cpp
index f064d56377..c6bf50cef9 100644
--- a/src/pair_table.cpp
+++ b/src/pair_table.cpp
@@ -291,9 +291,8 @@ void PairTable::coeff(int narg, char **arg)
     rlo = tb->rlo;
     rhi = tb->rhi;
   }
-  if (tb->cut <= rlo || tb->cut > rhi)
-    error->all(FLERR,"Invalid pair table cutoff");
-  if (rlo <= 0.0) error->all(FLERR,"Invalid pair table cutoff");
+  if (tb->cut <= rlo || tb->cut > rhi) error->all(FLERR, "Pair table cutoff outside of table");
+  if (rlo <= 0.0) error->all(FLERR, "Invalid pair table lower boundary");
 
   // match = 1 if don't need to spline read-in tables
   // this is only the case if r values needed by final tables