It seems that the structure of your data is that you have two groups ("Real Bad Stuff" and "Other Crazy Things") which are then subdivided into further categories. I'd be tempted to set your data up like this:
dfr <- data.frame( score=c(23, 14, 17, 8, 43, 13), group=rep(c("Real Bad Stuff", "Other Crazy Things"), each=3), variable=c("Real","Bad","Stuff","Other","Crazy","Things")) Then you can use a lattice plot to emphasise the different groups, and avoid your mtext worries. library(lattice) barchart( variable~score|group, data=dfr, horizontal=TRUE, layout=c(1,2), scales=list(y=list(relation="free")), prepanel=function(x,y,...) { y <- y[,drop=TRUE] prepanel.default.bwplot(x,y,...) }, panel=function(x,y,...) { y <- y[,drop=TRUE] panel.barchart(x,y,...) } ) (The scales, prepanel and panel arguments are just to get rid of the variables that appear in one group but not the other.) I realise it isn't exactly what you asked for, but I thought you might be interested in the alternate approach. Regards, Richie. Mathematical Sciences Unit HSL ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ATTENTION: This message contains privileged and confidential inform...{{dropped:20}} ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.