Having corresponded further with the user who was confused over the use of quotation marks/the 'exact word or phrase' search I think I've got to the bottom of the issue.
They were reading the instructions to the right as referring to the search box that they are beside, having not noticed the 'also'. The second paragraph is also referring to the main search, not this box.
The help text could perhaps more accurately read:
'This search box returns results containing only the exact term you enter. You can get the same results from the main search box by putting your search term in quotes, like "cycling" or "hutton report".
By default, the main search box returns words related to your search term, like “cycle” and “cycles” in a search for cycling. Putting the word in quotes in the main search box, or using this 'exact search' function, will stop this'.
Perhaps the second paragraph would be better positioned to be separate from the 'find this exact word or phrase' box, as it's really to do with search more generally.
Having corresponded further with the user who was confused over the use of quotation marks/the 'exact word or phrase' search I think I've got to the bottom of the issue.
They were reading the instructions to the right as referring to the search box that they are beside, having not noticed the 'also'. The second paragraph is also referring to the main search, not this box.
The help text could perhaps more accurately read:
Perhaps the second paragraph would be better positioned to be separate from the 'find this exact word or phrase' box, as it's really to do with search more generally.