diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/fb2/fb2ml.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/fb2/fb2ml.py
index fad89612c7..74a97bf727 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/fb2/fb2ml.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/fb2/fb2ml.py
@@ -352,6 +352,7 @@ class FB2MLizer(object):
         @return: List of string representing the XHTML converted to FB2 markup.
         '''
         from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import XHTML_NS, barename, namespace
+        elem = elem_tree
 
         # Ensure what we are converting is not a string and that the fist tag is part of the XHTML namespace.
         if not isinstance(elem_tree.tag, basestring) or namespace(elem_tree.tag) != XHTML_NS:
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pml/pmlml.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/pml/pmlml.py
index 506e18654e..0fec9a0014 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pml/pmlml.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pml/pmlml.py
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ class PMLMLizer(object):
     def dump_text(self, elem, stylizer, page, tag_stack=[]):
         from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import XHTML_NS, barename, namespace
 
-        if not isinstance(elem_tree.tag, basestring) or namespace(elem_tree.tag) != XHTML_NS:
+        if not isinstance(elem.tag, basestring) or namespace(elem.tag) != XHTML_NS:
             p = elem.getparent()
             if p is not None and isinstance(p.tag, basestring) and namespace(p.tag) == XHTML_NS \
                     and elem.tail:
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/rb/rbml.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/rb/rbml.py
index c5b110c679..d1b097a235 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/rb/rbml.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/rb/rbml.py
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ class RBMLizer(object):
     def dump_text(self, elem, stylizer, page, tag_stack=[]):
         from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import XHTML_NS, barename, namespace
 
-        if not isinstance(elem_tree.tag, basestring) or namespace(elem_tree.tag) != XHTML_NS:
+        if not isinstance(elem.tag, basestring) or namespace(elem.tag) != XHTML_NS:
             p = elem.getparent()
             if p is not None and isinstance(p.tag, basestring) and namespace(p.tag) == XHTML_NS \
                     and elem.tail: