diff --git a/open_instruct/IFEvalG/instructions.py b/open_instruct/IFEvalG/instructions.py
index c2109a00e..16d574a54 100644
--- a/open_instruct/IFEvalG/instructions.py
+++ b/open_instruct/IFEvalG/instructions.py
@@ -1543,11 +1543,10 @@ def check_following(self, value):
         first_word = self._phrase.split()[0]
         last_word = self._phrase.split()[-1]
 
-        len(self._phrase.split()) - 2
-
         found_phrases = re.findall(rf"{first_word} .*? {last_word}", value)
         if len(found_phrases) != self._small_n:
             return False
+        num_satisfied_phrases = 0
         for phrase in found_phrases:
             phrase = phrase.split()
             ref_phrase = self._phrase.split()
@@ -1563,8 +1562,9 @@ def check_following(self, value):
                             return False
                 except IndexError:
                     return False
-        if differences == 1:
-            return True
+            num_satisfied_phrases += differences == 1
+
+        return num_satisfied_phrases == self._small_n
 
 
 class CopyChecker(Instruction):