diff --git a/doc/scsh-manual/decls.tex b/doc/scsh-manual/decls.tex
index fa71799..873fcac 100644
--- a/doc/scsh-manual/decls.tex
+++ b/doc/scsh-manual/decls.tex
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@
 
 \newcommand{\sem}{\normalfont\itshape}   %semantic font
 \newcommand{\semvar}[1]{\textit{#1}}     %semantic font
-\newcommand{\synvar}[1]{\textrm{\textit{$<$#1$>$}}}  %syntactic font
+\newcommand{\synvar}[1]{\textrm{\textit{$\left<\right.$#1$\left.\right>$}}}  %syntactic font
 \newcommand{\type}{\sem}
 \newcommand{\zeroormore}[1]{{\sem #1$_1$ \ldots  #1$_n$}}
 \newcommand{\oneormore}[1]{{\sem #1$_1$ #1$_2$ \ldots #1$_n$}}