diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 141c7ea..fa363b5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ check-fmt: $(SOURCES)
 vet:
 	@go vet
 
-precommit: fmt build check-full
+precommit: fmt vet build check-full
 
 clean:
 	@rm -f *.test
diff --git a/boot.go b/boot.go
index def5256..fd31a15 100644
--- a/boot.go
+++ b/boot.go
@@ -13,12 +13,15 @@ func stringToCommitType(s string) CommitType {
 	switch s {
 	case "alias":
 		return Alias
-	case "ws":
-		return Whitespace
-	case "nows":
-		return NoWhitespace
-	case "failpass":
-		return FailPass
+
+	// not used during boot:
+	// case "ws":
+	// 	return Whitespace
+	// case "nows":
+	// 	return NoWhitespace
+	// case "failpass":
+	// 	return FailPass
+
 	case "root":
 		return Root
 	default:
diff --git a/context.go b/context.go
index 8071e93..e575a82 100644
--- a/context.go
+++ b/context.go
@@ -95,25 +95,6 @@ func (c *context) fail(offset int) {
 	c.matchLast = false
 }
 
-// TODO:
-// - need to know which choice branch the failure happened on because if there is a non-user branch that has the
-// longest failure, it can be reported to an unrelevant user defined choice on another branch
-
-func (c *context) recordFailure(offset int, p parser) {
-	if offset < c.failOffset {
-		return
-	}
-
-	if c.failingParser != nil && offset == c.failOffset {
-		return
-	}
-
-	c.failOffset = offset
-	if p.commitType()&userDefined != 0 && p.commitType()&Whitespace == 0 {
-		c.failingParser = p
-	}
-}
-
 func findLine(tokens []rune, offset int) (line, column int) {
 	tokens = tokens[:offset]
 	for i := range tokens {
diff --git a/errors_test.go b/errors_test.go
index 8c2db9a..a98ea97 100644
--- a/errors_test.go
+++ b/errors_test.go
@@ -267,40 +267,40 @@ func TestErrorMessage(t *testing.T) {
 func TestErrorVerbose(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Skip()
 
-	const expected = `<input>:5:2:parse failed, parsing: string
-
-		"c":3,
-	}<<<
-
-Parsing error on line: 5, column: 2, while parsing: string. Definition:
-
-	string:nows = "\"" ([^\\"\b\f\n\r\t] | "\\" (["\\/bfnrt] | "u" [0-9a-f]{4}))* "\"";
-`
-
-	const doc = `{
-		"a":1,
-		"b":2,
-		"c":3,
-	}`
-
-	s, err := openSyntaxFile("examples/json.treerack")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Error(err)
-		return
-	}
-
-	_, err = s.Parse(bytes.NewBufferString(doc))
-	perr, ok := err.(*ParseError)
-	if !ok {
-		t.Error("failed to return parse error")
-		return
-	}
-
-	if perr.Verbose() != expected {
-		t.Error("failed to get the right error message")
-		t.Log("got:     ", perr.Verbose())
-		t.Log("expected:", expected)
-	}
+	// 	const expected = `<input>:5:2:parse failed, parsing: string
+	//
+	// 		"c":3,
+	// 	}<<<
+	//
+	// Parsing error on line: 5, column: 2, while parsing: string. Definition:
+	//
+	// 	string:nows = "\"" ([^\\"\b\f\n\r\t] | "\\" (["\\/bfnrt] | "u" [0-9a-f]{4}))* "\"";
+	// `
+	//
+	// 	const doc = `{
+	// 		"a":1,
+	// 		"b":2,
+	// 		"c":3,
+	// 	}`
+	//
+	// 	s, err := openSyntaxFile("examples/json.treerack")
+	// 	if err != nil {
+	// 		t.Error(err)
+	// 		return
+	// 	}
+	//
+	// 	_, err = s.Parse(bytes.NewBufferString(doc))
+	// 	perr, ok := err.(*ParseError)
+	// 	if !ok {
+	// 		t.Error("failed to return parse error")
+	// 		return
+	// 	}
+	//
+	// 	if perr.Verbose() != expected {
+	// 		t.Error("failed to get the right error message")
+	// 		t.Log("got:     ", perr.Verbose())
+	// 		t.Log("expected:", expected)
+	// 	}
 }
 
 func TestLongestFail(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/syntax.go b/syntax.go
index 847f731..9428272 100644
--- a/syntax.go
+++ b/syntax.go
@@ -169,9 +169,9 @@ func (pe *ParseError) Error() string {
 	)
 }
 
-func (pe *ParseError) Verbose() string {
-	return ""
-}
+// func (pe *ParseError) Verbose() string {
+// 	return ""
+// }
 
 func (s *Syntax) applyRoot(d definition) error {
 	explicitRoot := d.commitType()&Root != 0