I don't think it makes it clearer; it makes it more confusing.

The usage messages of programs are not a sufficent grammer to exactly
describe what conflicts with what.  Taken too far, it would bewilder
newcomers.

> the command line arguments -h and -R for chgrp and chown are mutually
> exclusive. The patch below changes the markup and the usage strings to
> make this clearer.
> 
> Cheers,
> Frederic
> 
> Index: bin/chmod/chgrp.1
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /cvs/src/bin/chmod/chgrp.1,v
> retrieving revision 1.16
> diff -u -p -r1.16 chgrp.1
> --- bin/chmod/chgrp.1 21 Jan 2014 22:35:44 -0000      1.16
> +++ bin/chmod/chgrp.1 5 Nov 2015 17:09:11 -0000
> @@ -40,9 +40,7 @@
>  .Nd change group
>  .Sh SYNOPSIS
>  .Nm chgrp
> -.Op Fl h
> -.Oo
> -.Fl R
> +.Oo Fl h | R
>  .Op Fl H | L | P
>  .Oc
>  .Ar group
> Index: bin/chmod/chmod.c
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /cvs/src/bin/chmod/chmod.c,v
> retrieving revision 1.38
> diff -u -p -r1.38 chmod.c
> --- bin/chmod/chmod.c 9 Oct 2015 01:37:06 -0000       1.38
> +++ bin/chmod/chmod.c 5 Nov 2015 17:09:11 -0000
> @@ -350,11 +350,11 @@ usage(void)
>                   __progname, ischmod ? "mode" : "flags");
>       else
>               fprintf(stderr,
> -                 "usage: %s [-h] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] %s file ...\n",
> +                 "usage: %s [-h | -R [-H | -L | -P]] %s file ...\n",
>                   __progname, ischown ? "owner[:group]" : "group");
>       if (ischown)
>               fprintf(stderr,
> -                 "       %s [-h] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...\n",
> +                 "       %s [-h | -R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...\n",
>                   __progname);
>       exit(1);
>  }
> Index: bin/chmod/chown.8
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /cvs/src/bin/chmod/chown.8,v
> retrieving revision 1.19
> diff -u -p -r1.19 chown.8
> --- bin/chmod/chown.8 14 Sep 2015 20:06:58 -0000      1.19
> +++ bin/chmod/chown.8 5 Nov 2015 17:09:11 -0000
> @@ -37,17 +37,13 @@
>  .Nd change file owner and group
>  .Sh SYNOPSIS
>  .Nm chown
> -.Op Fl h
> -.Oo
> -.Fl R
> +.Oo Fl h | R
>  .Op Fl H | L | P
>  .Oc
>  .Ar owner Ns Op : Ns Ar group
>  .Ar
>  .Nm chown
> -.Op Fl h
> -.Oo
> -.Fl R
> +.Oo Fl h | R
>  .Op Fl H | L | P
>  .Oc
>  .Pf : Ar group
> 

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