diff --git a/ts/docx/xml-components/base.ts b/ts/docx/xml-components/base.ts
index cc20f27cb2..9c94517c56 100644
--- a/ts/docx/xml-components/base.ts
+++ b/ts/docx/xml-components/base.ts
@@ -5,5 +5,5 @@ export abstract class BaseXmlComponent {
         this.rootKey = rootKey;
     }
 
-    public abstract toXml(): object;
+    public abstract prepForXml(): object;
 }
diff --git a/ts/docx/xml-components/default-attributes.ts b/ts/docx/xml-components/default-attributes.ts
index 231a632e3d..e1c4d0e461 100644
--- a/ts/docx/xml-components/default-attributes.ts
+++ b/ts/docx/xml-components/default-attributes.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export abstract class XmlAttributeComponent extends BaseXmlComponent {
         }
     }
 
-    public toXml(): object {
+    public prepForXml(): object {
         const attrs = {};
         if (this.root !== undefined) {
             _.forOwn(this.root, (value, key) => {
@@ -26,8 +26,6 @@ export abstract class XmlAttributeComponent extends BaseXmlComponent {
                 }
             });
         }
-        const ret = {};
-        ret[this.rootKey] = attrs;
-        return ret;
+        return {[this.rootKey]: attrs};
     }
 }
diff --git a/ts/docx/xml-components/index.ts b/ts/docx/xml-components/index.ts
index ad02890532..9db9c5a473 100644
--- a/ts/docx/xml-components/index.ts
+++ b/ts/docx/xml-components/index.ts
@@ -10,16 +10,15 @@ export abstract class XmlComponent extends BaseXmlComponent {
         this.root = new Array<BaseXmlComponent>();
     }
 
-    public toXml(): object {
-        // What does 'ret' stand for? Retain? Return?
-        const ret = this.root.map((comp) => {
+    public prepForXml(): object {
+        const children = this.root.map((comp) => {
             if (comp instanceof BaseXmlComponent) {
-                return comp.toXml();
+                return comp.prepForXml();
             }
             return comp;
         }).filter((comp) => comp); // Exclude null, undefined, and empty strings
         return {
-            [this.rootKey]: ret,
+            [this.rootKey]: children,
         };
     }
 }
diff --git a/ts/export/formatter.ts b/ts/export/formatter.ts
index 9020e0b293..76c05748bb 100644
--- a/ts/export/formatter.ts
+++ b/ts/export/formatter.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,6 @@ import { BaseXmlComponent } from "../docx/xml-components";
 
 export class Formatter {
     public format(input: BaseXmlComponent): any {
-        return input.toXml();
+        return input.prepForXml();
     }
 }