improve README phrasing

Author: d-w-moore

README.md

@@ -2138,9 +2138,15 @@ session.acls.apply_atomic_operations(
 )
 ```
 `ACLOperation` objects form a linear order with `iRODSAccess` objects, and
-indeed are subclassed from them as well, allowing intermixed sequences to be
-sorted.  Care should be taken to normalize the objects before such comparisons,
-sorting, or with related uses of the 'in' operator.
+indeed are subclassed from them as well, allowing equivalence comparisons and
+also permitting intermixed sequences to be sorted (using the `__lt__` method
+if no sort `key` parameter is given).
+
+Care should be taken however to normalize the objects before such comparisons
+and sorting, and with connected uses of the `in` operator (which leverages `__eq__`).
+
+The following code sorts the objects based on their lexical order starting with the
+normalized `access_name`, which serves to group identical permissions together:
 ```py
 from irods.access import *
 normalize = lambda acl: acl.copy(decanonicalize=-1, implied_zone='tempZone')
@@ -2156,7 +2162,7 @@ print(normalize(acls[0]) == normalize(acls[1]))
 print(normalize(iRODSAccess('read', '/tempZone/home/alice', 'bob')) in map(normalize, acls))
 ```
 
-If strict order of permissions is desired, use something like the below:
+If strict order of permissions is desired, we can use code such as the following:
 ```py
 from irods.access import *
 from pprint import pp