diff --git a/apps/openmw/engine.cpp b/apps/openmw/engine.cpp
index d8546a249..3d8aa5530 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/engine.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/engine.cpp
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ void OMW::Engine::prepareEngine (Settings::Manager & settings)
     }
     if (mCompileAllDialogue)
     {
-        std::pair<int, int> result = MWDialogue::ScriptTest::compileAll(&mExtensions);
+        std::pair<int, int> result = MWDialogue::ScriptTest::compileAll(&mExtensions, mWarningsMode);
         if (result.first)
             std::cout
                 << "compiled " << result.second << " of " << result.first << " dialogue script/actor combinations a("
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/scripttest.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/scripttest.cpp
index a8de21ef9..b2c8f536a 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/scripttest.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/scripttest.cpp
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 namespace
 {
 
-void test(const MWWorld::Ptr& actor, int &compiled, int &total, const Compiler::Extensions* extensions)
+void test(const MWWorld::Ptr& actor, int &compiled, int &total, const Compiler::Extensions* extensions, int warningsMode)
 {
     MWDialogue::Filter filter(actor, 0, false);
 
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ void test(const MWWorld::Ptr& actor, int &compiled, int &total, const Compiler::
     compilerContext.setExtensions(extensions);
     std::ostream errorStream(std::cout.rdbuf());
     Compiler::StreamErrorHandler errorHandler(errorStream);
+    errorHandler.setWarningsMode (warningsMode);
 
     const MWWorld::Store<ESM::Dialogue>& dialogues = MWBase::Environment::get().getWorld()->getStore().get<ESM::Dialogue>();
     for (MWWorld::Store<ESM::Dialogue>::iterator it = dialogues.begin(); it != dialogues.end(); ++it)
@@ -100,21 +101,21 @@ namespace MWDialogue
 namespace ScriptTest
 {
 
-    std::pair<int, int> compileAll(const Compiler::Extensions *extensions)
+    std::pair<int, int> compileAll(const Compiler::Extensions *extensions, int warningsMode)
     {
         int compiled = 0, total = 0;
         const MWWorld::Store<ESM::NPC>& npcs = MWBase::Environment::get().getWorld()->getStore().get<ESM::NPC>();
         for (MWWorld::Store<ESM::NPC>::iterator it = npcs.begin(); it != npcs.end(); ++it)
         {
             MWWorld::ManualRef ref(MWBase::Environment::get().getWorld()->getStore(), it->mId);
-            test(ref.getPtr(), compiled, total, extensions);
+            test(ref.getPtr(), compiled, total, extensions, warningsMode);
         }
 
         const MWWorld::Store<ESM::Creature>& creatures = MWBase::Environment::get().getWorld()->getStore().get<ESM::Creature>();
         for (MWWorld::Store<ESM::Creature>::iterator it = creatures.begin(); it != creatures.end(); ++it)
         {
             MWWorld::ManualRef ref(MWBase::Environment::get().getWorld()->getStore(), it->mId);
-            test(ref.getPtr(), compiled, total, extensions);
+            test(ref.getPtr(), compiled, total, extensions, warningsMode);
         }
         return std::make_pair(total, compiled);
     }
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/scripttest.hpp b/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/scripttest.hpp
index 1ed94c76a..0ac259725 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/scripttest.hpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwdialogue/scripttest.hpp
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ namespace ScriptTest
 
 /// Attempt to compile all dialogue scripts, use for verification purposes
 /// @return A pair containing <total number of scripts, number of successfully compiled scripts>
-std::pair<int, int> compileAll(const Compiler::Extensions* extensions);
+std::pair<int, int> compileAll(const Compiler::Extensions* extensions, int warningsMode);
 
 }
 
diff --git a/components/compiler/exprparser.cpp b/components/compiler/exprparser.cpp
index 18d9e6dc7..7eaca5c02 100644
--- a/components/compiler/exprparser.cpp
+++ b/components/compiler/exprparser.cpp
@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@ namespace Compiler
             else
             {
                 // no comma was used between arguments
-                scanner.putbackKeyword (code, loc);
+                scanner.putbackSpecial (code, loc);
                 return false;
             }
         }
diff --git a/components/compiler/lineparser.cpp b/components/compiler/lineparser.cpp
index 2d08ed3fe..88b5f5ddb 100644
--- a/components/compiler/lineparser.cpp
+++ b/components/compiler/lineparser.cpp
@@ -489,6 +489,13 @@ namespace Compiler
 
     bool LineParser::parseSpecial (int code, const TokenLoc& loc, Scanner& scanner)
     {
+        if (mState==EndState && code==Scanner::S_open)
+        {
+            getErrorHandler().warning ("stray '[' or '(' at the end of the line (ignoring it)",
+                loc);
+            return true;
+        }
+
         if (code==Scanner::S_newline &&
             (mState==EndState || mState==BeginState || mState==PotentialEndState))
             return false;
diff --git a/components/compiler/scanner.cpp b/components/compiler/scanner.cpp
index 488906d8f..2aeaffd9c 100644
--- a/components/compiler/scanner.cpp
+++ b/components/compiler/scanner.cpp
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ namespace Compiler
 
     bool Scanner::scanName (char c, std::string& name)
     {
-        bool first = false;
+        bool first = true;
         bool error = false;
 
         name.clear();
@@ -554,8 +554,7 @@ namespace Compiler
 
     bool Scanner::isWhitespace (char c)
     {
-        return c==' ' || c=='\t'
-            || c=='['; ///< \todo disable this when doing more strict compiling
+        return c==' ' || c=='\t';
     }
 
     // constructor