diff --git a/http/jsonapi/request.go b/http/jsonapi/request.go
index 37c7189e9..5e2eff67b 100644
--- a/http/jsonapi/request.go
+++ b/http/jsonapi/request.go
@@ -274,8 +274,8 @@ func unmarshalNode(data *Node, model reflect.Value, included *map[string]*Node)
 
 				buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
 
-				err = json.NewEncoder(buf).Encode(data.Relationships[args[1]]) // nolint: errcheck
-				json.NewDecoder(buf).Decode(relationship)                      // nolint: errcheck
+				json.NewEncoder(buf).Encode(data.Relationships[args[1]]) // nolint: errcheck
+				json.NewDecoder(buf).Decode(relationship)                // nolint: errcheck
 
 				data := relationship.Data
 				models := reflect.New(fieldValue.Type()).Elem()
diff --git a/http/middleware/external_dependency.go b/http/middleware/external_dependency.go
index 2b039ac37..d8728f369 100644
--- a/http/middleware/external_dependency.go
+++ b/http/middleware/external_dependency.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 package middleware
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
@@ -83,7 +82,7 @@ func ExternalDependencyContextFromContext(ctx context.Context) *ExternalDependen
 	return nil
 }
 
-// ExternalDependencyContext contains all dependencies that where seed
+// ExternalDependencyContext contains all dependencies that were seen
 // during the request livecycle
 type ExternalDependencyContext struct {
 	mu           sync.RWMutex
@@ -101,16 +100,16 @@ func (c *ExternalDependencyContext) AddDependency(name string, duration time.Dur
 
 // String formats all external dependencies
 func (c *ExternalDependencyContext) String() string {
-	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	var b strings.Builder
 	sep := len(c.dependencies) - 1
 	for _, dep := range c.dependencies {
-		buf.WriteString(dep.String())
+		b.WriteString(dep.String())
 		if sep > 0 {
-			buf.WriteByte(',')
+			b.WriteByte(',')
 			sep--
 		}
 	}
-	return buf.String()
+	return b.String()
 }
 
 // Parse a external dependency value