-Expanded-syntax white-space characters are blank,
-tab, newline, and any character that belongs to the @e space character class.
-Finally, in an ARE, outside bracket expressions, the sequence '@b (?#ttt)' (where
-@e ttt is any text not containing a '@b )') is a comment, completely ignored. Again,
-this is not allowed between the characters of multi-character symbols like
-'@b (?:'. Such comments are more a historical artifact than a useful facility,
-and their use is deprecated; use the expanded syntax instead.
-@e None of these
-metasyntax extensions is available if the application (or an initial @b ***=
-director) has specified that the user's input be treated as a literal string
-rather than as an RE.
+Embedded options take effect at the <tt>)</tt> terminating the sequence. They
+are available only at the start of an ARE, and may not be used later within it.
+
+In addition to the usual (@e tight) RE syntax, in which all characters are
+significant, there is an @e expanded syntax, available in AREs with the
+embedded x option. In the expanded syntax, white-space characters are ignored
+and all characters between a <tt>@#</tt> and the following newline (or the end
+of the RE) are ignored, permitting paragraphing and commenting a complex RE.
+There are three exceptions to that basic rule:
+
+@li A white-space character or <tt>@#</tt> preceded by <tt>@\</tt> is retained.
+@li White space or <tt>@#</tt> within a bracket expression is retained.
+@li White space and comments are illegal within multi-character symbols like
+ the ARE <tt>(?:</tt> or the BRE <tt>\(</tt>.
+
+Expanded-syntax white-space characters are blank, tab, newline, and any
+character that belongs to the @e space character class.
+
+Finally, in an ARE, outside bracket expressions, the sequence <tt>(?@#ttt)</tt>
+(where @e ttt is any text not containing a <tt>)</tt>) is a comment, completely
+ignored. Again, this is not allowed between the characters of multi-character
+symbols like <tt>(?:</tt>. Such comments are more a historical artifact than a
+useful facility, and their use is deprecated; use the expanded syntax instead.
+
+@e None of these metasyntax extensions is available if the application (or an
+initial <tt>***=</tt> director) has specified that the user's input be treated
+as a literal string rather than as an RE.