EkLine Reviewer checks your documentation against a set of writing rules. Each rule targets one issue, such as passive voice, a British spelling, or a broken link. This reference documents every rule that is available to all EkLine projects, so you can understand any flag you see and decide how to respond.
When EkLine reviews a file, it reports each issue with a rule ID in brackets, followed by a message:
[EK00300] "responce" could be a typo. Check the spelling.
The rule ID, such as EK00300, identifies the rule. Use it to look up the rule on this page, or to silence the rule in your configuration.
Each rule has two properties that affect how it behaves:
Severity — the level EkLine assigns to the issue: suggestion, warning, or error. Severity helps you triage which flags to fix first.Enabled by default — whether the rule runs without any configuration. Some rules are off by default and run only when your project’s rule set includes them — for example, through a style guide .
Before you silence a rule, consider whether the flag is correct. EkLine catches real issues that are often overlooked. To keep a flagged phrase, use an inline ignore comment or disable the rule in your configuration file .
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00001 Prefer American over British spelling Warning On EK00007 Place commas and periods inside quotation marks Error Off EK00010 Avoid unnecessary hyphens Error On EK00012 Avoid exclamation points Error On EK00016 Avoid periods in acronyms and initialisms Error Off EK00024 Avoid repeated words Error On EK00025 Use a single space between words Error On EK00027 Avoid words like “from” or “between” in number ranges Warning On EK00028 Avoid spaces before or after a dash Error Off EK00029 Spell out ordinal numbers Error Off EK00034 Use an en dash for negative numbers Error On EK00036 Use semicolons judiciously Suggestion Off EK00039 Use the Oxford comma Warning On EK00300 Enable dictionary-based spell checking Error On
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00005 Prefer present tense over future tense Warning On EK00031 Prefer active voice over passive voice Warning On EK00033 Use contractions Warning On EK00047 Limit first-person pronouns Warning On EK00048 Avoid adding -ly to ordinal numbers Error On EK00057 Write direct action statements Warning Off
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00008 Use the “January 01, 1970” date format Error Off EK00009 Define unfamiliar terms and abbreviations Warning Off EK00011 Avoid ellipses Warning On EK00018 Use consistent logical operators Warning Off EK00026 Prefer English terms over Latin abbreviations Error On EK00032 Use an em dash instead of an en dash Error Off EK00037 Use sentence-style capitalization in headings Error On EK00040 Use standardized word-list terms Suggestion Off EK00049 Use “of” instead of “for” with URL Suggestion On EK00050 Abbreviate units of measurement Error On EK00051 Use American-style number formatting Warning On EK00053 Use standard keyboard shortcut terms Warning Off EK00054 Format data measurements consistently Warning Off EK00055 Use numerals for time measurements Warning Off EK00056 Capitalize unit abbreviations correctly Warning Off
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00003 Avoid potentially condescending language Error On EK00013 Prefer inclusive phrasing Error On EK00014 Avoid gender-specific pronouns Error On EK00030 Avoid language that defines people by disability Error On EK00035 Use inclusive technical terms Error On EK00052 Avoid directional references Suggestion On
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00015 Avoid internet slang and abbreviations Error On EK00019 Avoid weasel words Suggestion Off
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00002 Avoid acronyms in titles or headings Warning Off EK00022 Avoid periods at the end of headings Warning Off EK00023 Avoid end punctuation in headings Warning On
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00004 Remove parentheses for clarity Suggestion Off EK00006 Remove unnecessary adverbs Suggestion On EK00017 Avoid plurals in parentheses Error On EK00020 Use lowercase after a colon Warning Off EK00021 Limit sentences to 32 words or fewer Suggestion Off EK00038 Prefer simple, concise words Suggestion Off EK00041 Require ending punctuation in list items Error Off EK00042 Prefer concise words over complex terms Suggestion On EK00043 Avoid idioms and colloquialisms Suggestion On EK00044 Format AM and PM in times correctly Error On EK00045 Avoid ordinal numbers in dates Error On EK00046 Spell out month names in dates Error On
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00058 Avoid a byte order mark before frontmatter Error On
Rule Checks Severity Default EK00100 Flesch–Kincaid readability score Suggestion Off EK00101 Gunning fog readability index Suggestion Off
Rule Checks Severity Default EK20001 Check for broken links Error On EK20002 Check for broken email addresses Error Off
