diff --git a/share/man/man9/style.9 b/share/man/man9/style.9
--- a/share/man/man9/style.9
+++ b/share/man/man9/style.9
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
-.Dd July 2, 2024
+.Dd December 3, 2024
 .Dt STYLE 9
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -818,19 +818,15 @@
 static void
 usage(void)
 {
-	/* Optional blank line goes here. */
 .Ed
 .Pp
-Optionally, insert a blank line at the beginning of functions with no local
-variables.
+Functions should have local variable declarations first, followed by one
+blank line, followed by the first statement.
+If no local variables are declared, the first line should be a statment.
 Older versions of this
 .Nm
-document required the blank line convention, so it is widely used in existing
-code.
-.Pp
-Do not insert a blank line at the beginning of functions with local variables.
-Instead, these should have local variable declarations first, followed by one
-blank line, followed by the first statement.
+document required a blank line before code.
+Such lines should be removed when signficant changes are made to the code.
 .Pp
 Use
 .Xr printf 3 ,