diff --git a/json.parser b/json.parser
index 09c6214..10f0dde 100644
--- a/json.parser
+++ b/json.parser
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 // JSON (http://www.json.org)
-ws:alias    = [ \b\f\n\r\t];
-true        = "true";
-false       = "false";
-null        = "null";
-string      = "\"" ([^\\"\b\f\n\r\t] | "\\" (["\\/bfnrt] | "u" [0-9a-f]{4}))* "\"";
-number      = "-"? ("0" | [1-9][0-9]*) ("." [0-9]+)? ([eE] [+\-]? [0-9]+)?;
-entry       = string ws* ":" ws* value;
-object      = "{" ws* (entry ws* ("," ws* entry)*)? ws* "}";
-array       = "[" ws* (value ws* ("," ws* value)*)? ws* "]";
-value:alias = true | false | null | string | number | object | array;
-json:root   = ws* value ws*;
+whitespace:ws    = [ \b\f\n\r\t];
+true             = "true";
+false            = "false";
+null             = "null";
+string:nows      = "\"" ([^\\"\b\f\n\r\t] | "\\" (["\\/bfnrt] | "u" [0-9a-f]{4}))* "\"";
+number:nows      = "-"? ("0" | [1-9][0-9]*) ("." [0-9]+)? ([eE] [+\-]? [0-9]+)?;
+entry            = string ":" expression;
+object           = "{" (entry ("," entry)*)? "}";
+array            = "[" (expression ("," expression)*)? "]";
+expression:alias = true | false | null | string | number | object | array;
+json:root        = expression;
diff --git a/parse_test.go b/parse_test.go
index 2554da6..af5ee88 100644
--- a/parse_test.go
+++ b/parse_test.go
@@ -629,3 +629,18 @@ func TestEmpty(t *testing.T) {
 		}},
 	)
 }
+
+func TestCharAsRoot(t *testing.T) {
+	runTests(
+		t,
+		`A = "a"`,
+		[]testItem{{
+			title:          "char as root",
+			text:           "a",
+			ignorePosition: true,
+			node: &Node{
+				Name: "A",
+			},
+		}},
+	)
+}
diff --git a/syntax.go b/syntax.go
index c5b1183..3333d03 100644
--- a/syntax.go
+++ b/syntax.go
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ func (s *Syntax) CharSequence(name string, ct CommitType, chars []rune) error {
 		}
 	}
 
-	return s.Sequence(name, ct, namesToSequenceItems(refs)...)
+	return s.Sequence(name, ct|NoWhitespace, namesToSequenceItems(refs)...)
 }
 
 func (s *Syntax) Sequence(name string, ct CommitType, items ...SequenceItem) error {