diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index db901da6..373f83f4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ Optionally, you can use the following command-line flags:
 | `--wbits WBITS`            | GPTQ: Load a pre-quantized model with specified precision in bits. 2, 3, 4 and 8 are supported. |
 | `--model_type MODEL_TYPE`  | GPTQ: Model type of pre-quantized model. Currently LLaMA, OPT, and GPT-J are supported. |
 | `--groupsize GROUPSIZE`    | GPTQ: Group size. |
-| `--pre_layer PRE_LAYER`    | GPTQ: The number of layers to preload. |
+| `--pre_layer PRE_LAYER`    | GPTQ: The number of layers to allocate to the GPU. Setting this parameter enables CPU offloading for 4-bit models. |
 
 #### FlexGen
 
diff --git a/modules/shared.py b/modules/shared.py
index 42a91485..038e392a 100644
--- a/modules/shared.py
+++ b/modules/shared.py
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ parser.add_argument('--threads', type=int, default=0, help='Number of threads to
 parser.add_argument('--wbits', type=int, default=0, help='GPTQ: Load a pre-quantized model with specified precision in bits. 2, 3, 4 and 8 are supported.')
 parser.add_argument('--model_type', type=str, help='GPTQ: Model type of pre-quantized model. Currently LLaMA, OPT, and GPT-J are supported.')
 parser.add_argument('--groupsize', type=int, default=-1, help='GPTQ: Group size.')
-parser.add_argument('--pre_layer', type=int, default=0, help='GPTQ: The number of layers to preload.')
+parser.add_argument('--pre_layer', type=int, default=0, help='GPTQ: The number of layers to allocate to the GPU. Setting this parameter enables CPU offloading for 4-bit models.')
 parser.add_argument('--gptq-bits', type=int, default=0, help='DEPRECATED: use --wbits instead.')
 parser.add_argument('--gptq-model-type', type=str, help='DEPRECATED: use --model_type instead.')
 parser.add_argument('--gptq-pre-layer', type=int, default=0, help='DEPRECATED: use --pre_layer instead.')