diff --git a/Lib/test/test_descr.py b/Lib/test/test_descr.py
index 230d6a16c8c..f5daf261dd7 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_descr.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_descr.py
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ def dict_constructor():
     vereq(d, dictionary([(i, i+1) for i in range(4)]))
 
     # Bad sequence lengths.
-    for bad in ['tooshort'], ['too', 'long', 'by 1']:
+    for bad in [('tooshort',)], [('too', 'long', 'by 1')]:
         try:
             dictionary(bad)
         except ValueError: