diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2.py
index 6e0998d55d..238209d5eb 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2.py
@@ -195,11 +195,11 @@ options:
   state:
     version_added: "1.3"
     description:
-      - create, terminate, start, stop or restart instances.
-        The state 'restarted' was added in 2.2
-    required: false
+      - Create, terminate, start, stop or restart instances. The state 'restarted' was added in Ansible 2.2.
+      - When 'absent', I(instance_ids) is required.
+      - When 'running', 'stopped' and 'restarted', I(instance_ids) or I(instance_tags) is required.
     default: 'present'
-    choices: ['present', 'absent', 'running', 'restarted', 'stopped']
+    choices: ['absent', 'present', 'restarted', 'running', 'stopped']
     type: str
   volumes:
     version_added: "1.5"