diff --git a/proselint/command_line.py b/proselint/command_line.py
index 547ef5209..18eda4280 100644
--- a/proselint/command_line.py
+++ b/proselint/command_line.py
@@ -76,17 +76,18 @@ def print_errors(filename, errors, output_json=False, compact=False):
 
 @click.command(context_settings=CONTEXT_SETTINGS)
 @click.version_option(__version__, '--version', '-v', message='%(version)s')
-@click.option('--debug', '-d', is_flag=True)
-@click.option('--clean', '-c', is_flag=True)
-@click.option('--json', '-j', 'output_json', is_flag=True)
-@click.option('--time', '-t', is_flag=True)
-@click.option('--demo', is_flag=True)
-@click.option('--compact', is_flag=True)
+@click.option('--debug', '-d', is_flag=True, help="Give verbose output.")
+@click.option('--clean', '-c', is_flag=True, help="Clear the cache.")
+@click.option('--json', '-j', 'output_json', is_flag=True,
+              help="Output as JSON.")
+@click.option('--time', '-t', is_flag=True, help="Time on a corpus.")
+@click.option('--demo', is_flag=True, help="Run over demo file.")
+@click.option('--compact', is_flag=True, help="Shorten output.")
 @click.argument('paths', nargs=-1, type=click.Path())
 @close_cache_shelves_after
 def proselint(paths=None, version=None, clean=None, debug=None,
               output_json=None, time=None, demo=None, compact=None):
-    """Define the linter command line API."""
+    """A CLI for proselint, a linter for prose."""
     if time:
         click.echo(timing_test())
         return