I agree some syntax is a mess. I have tried to keep it pretty simple or guide people to the correct syntax, but everyone thinks differently.
The syntax that drives me nuts and is used quite commonly is “exa sign".."Perhaps you should try <read>ing the sign” . I have used it myself a few times early on, but decided it was a waste.
Some rooms have no examines at all in them in the older code, where as I tried to have something for every item in a room that could be examined. I also use to add searches for most of them. Personally, I don;t like searching a wall that has a portrait on it and getting back, you find nothing special, when there is clearly a protrait on it. That’s just me though, I was in the minority for how many examines and searches should be in a room, I liked a lot of them
One thing I think most of us try to do now though is keep a room desc pretty simple and expand on it through examines and searches. I like to keep my room desc as short as possible (not that I have coded a room in a while, but when I did code rooms, that is what I liked to do:) )
Some drawbacks, and these are my opinions only, to the suggestion of having a command that tells you the examinable items, is that items can be added through code when an action is done, such as a search that reveals something hidden. Another thing is I think it would take out the fun aspect of exploration. As a player I use to enjoy entering areas I had never been and seing if I could figure everything out. if there was a command that just told me what was examinable, I don’t think I would have enjoyed exploring as much because I would never have read the descriptions.
Just a few thoughts on the subject in a completely random order