diff --git a/contrib/cvs/man/cvs.1 b/contrib/cvs/man/cvs.1
index 37145280d2da..fe9e30a2e756 100644
--- a/contrib/cvs/man/cvs.1
+++ b/contrib/cvs/man/cvs.1
@@ -321,6 +321,15 @@ it will have the effect of producing context sensitive diffs for
 all executions of
 .` "cvs diff"
 ).
+.SP
+Global options are specified using the \fBcvs\fP keyword.  For example,
+the following:
+.SP
+cvs \-q
+.SP
+will mean that all
+.` "cvs"
+commands will behave as thought he \-q global option had been supplied.
 .SH "CVS COMMAND SUMMARY"
 Here are brief descriptions of all the
 .B cvs