diff --git a/lang/en_utf8/qtype_match.php b/lang/en_utf8/qtype_match.php
index 203cb0fa54c..293cf290b5d 100644
--- a/lang/en_utf8/qtype_match.php
+++ b/lang/en_utf8/qtype_match.php
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 <?php
 $string['addmoreqblanks'] = '{no} More Sets of Blanks';
-$string['notenoughquestions'] = 'You must supply at least $a question and answer pairs.';
+$string['filloutthreeqsandtwoas'] = 'You must provide at least two questions and three answers. You can provide extra wrong answers by giving an answer with a blank question. Entries where both the question and the answer are blank will be ignored.';
 $string['nomatchinganswerforq'] = 'You must specify an answer for this question.';
+$string['notenoughquestions'] = 'You must supply at least $a question and answer pairs.';
+$string['notenoughqsandas'] = 'You must supply at least $a->q questions and $a->a answers.';
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/question/type/match/edit_match_form.php b/question/type/match/edit_match_form.php
index 4a550d551d4..629bd632347 100644
--- a/question/type/match/edit_match_form.php
+++ b/question/type/match/edit_match_form.php
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class question_edit_match_form extends question_edit_form {
         $mform->setHelpButton('shuffleanswers', array('matchshuffle', get_string('shuffle','quiz'), 'quiz'));
         $mform->setDefault('shuffleanswers', 1);
 
-        $mform->addElement('static', 'answersinstruct', get_string('choices', 'quiz'), get_string('filloutthreequestions', 'quiz'));
+        $mform->addElement('static', 'answersinstruct', get_string('choices', 'quiz'), get_string('filloutthreeqsandtwoas', 'qtype_match'));
         $mform->closeHeaderBefore('answersinstruct');
 
         $repeated = array();
@@ -75,26 +75,31 @@ class question_edit_match_form extends question_edit_form {
         $answers = $data['subanswers'];
         $questions = $data['subquestions'];
         $questioncount = 0;
+        $answercount = 0;
         foreach ($questions as $key => $question){
             $trimmedquestion = trim($question);
             $trimmedanswer = trim($answers[$key]);
-            if ($trimmedanswer != '' && $trimmedquestion != ''){
+            if ($trimmedquestion != ''){
                 $questioncount++;
             }
+            if ($trimmedanswer != '' || $trimmedquestion != ''){
+                $answercount++;
+            }
             if ($trimmedquestion != '' && $trimmedanswer == ''){
                 $errors['subanswers['.$key.']'] = get_string('nomatchinganswerforq', 'qtype_match', $trimmedquestion);
             }
         }
-        if ($questioncount==0){
-            $errors['subquestions[0]'] = get_string('notenoughquestions', 'qtype_match', 3);
-            $errors['subquestions[1]'] = get_string('notenoughquestions', 'qtype_match', 3);
-            $errors['subquestions[2]'] = get_string('notenoughquestions', 'qtype_match', 3);
-        } elseif ($questioncount==1){
-            $errors['subquestions[1]'] = get_string('notenoughquestions', 'qtype_match', 3);
-            $errors['subquestions[2]'] = get_string('notenoughquestions', 'qtype_match', 3);
-
-        } elseif ($questioncount==2){
-            $errors['subquestions[2]'] = get_string('notenoughquestions', 'qtype_match', 3);
+        $numberqanda = new stdClass;
+        $numberqanda->q = 2;
+        $numberqanda->a = 3;
+        if ($questioncount < 1){
+            $errors['subquestions[0]'] = get_string('notenoughqsandas', 'qtype_match', $numberqanda);
+        }
+        if ($questioncount < 2){
+            $errors['subquestions[1]'] = get_string('notenoughqsandas', 'qtype_match', $numberqanda);
+        }
+        if ($answercount < 3){
+            $errors['subanswers[2]'] = get_string('notenoughqsandas', 'qtype_match', $numberqanda);
         }
         return $errors;
     }