Guide
The word 'guide' can have a range of meanings:
- A guide may be a person who advises others, especially in matters of behaviour or belief - someone who shows the way to others. This can also be in the physical sense in terms of someone employed to show someone around a place of interest. It can also be litrary in the sense that the document act as the guide such as with city guides. In relation to buildings of significance or particular interest a tour guide might be employed to describe in greater detail the historical and cultural significance of a particular monument.
- A guide book, leaflet or audio recording may do the same.
- Guides might interpreted documents that are perhaps slightly less formal than guidance (but the interpretation is quite open). For example a guide to the building regulations might be a brief document that describes the overall principle of the building regulations, whilst what might be called the building regulations guidance (also known as the approved documents) is a quite specific set of documents designed to assists in meeting the the requirements set by law.
- A guide might also be something used to assist in delineating a path for something, such as a line describing a path to be cut on a material.
- The word guideline might refer to a rule, principle, or piece of advice.
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