diff --git a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Resources/Mode.xsd b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Resources/Mode.xsd
index 42ae8f499a..5a01d8afdc 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Resources/Mode.xsd
+++ b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Resources/Mode.xsd
@@ -92,9 +92,10 @@
 
  	<!-- The beginning symbol of a Span -->
 	<xsd:complexType name="Begin">
-        <xsd:simpleContent>
+		<xsd:simpleContent>
             <xsd:extension base="xsd:string">
-				<!-- The default rendering style for the Begin symbol. If not specified
+		        <xsd:attribute name="singleword" type="xsd:boolean" />
+            	<!-- The default rendering style for the Begin symbol. If not specified
 					 the defaul rendering style for the span will be used. -->
 		        <xsd:attribute name="bold" type="xsd:boolean" />
 		        <xsd:attribute name="italic" type="xsd:boolean" />
@@ -106,8 +107,9 @@
  
  	<!-- The end symbol of a Span -->
     <xsd:complexType name="End">
-        <xsd:simpleContent>
+    	<xsd:simpleContent>
             <xsd:extension base="xsd:string">
+		        <xsd:attribute name="singleword" type="xsd:boolean" />
 				<!-- The default rendering style for the End symbol. If not specified
 					 the defaul rendering style for the span will be used. -->
 		        <xsd:attribute name="bold" type="xsd:boolean" />
diff --git a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Resources/VBNET-Mode.xshd b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Resources/VBNET-Mode.xshd
index 4ec2b15569..74f4065591 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Resources/VBNET-Mode.xshd
+++ b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Resources/VBNET-Mode.xshd
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 			</Span>
 			
 			<Span name = "LINECOMMENT" bold = "false" italic = "false" color = "Green" stopateol = "true">
-				<Begin>REM</Begin>
+				<Begin singleword="true">REM@C</Begin>
 			</Span>
 			
 			<KeyWords name = "DataTypes" bold="false" italic="false" color="#6F002F">
diff --git a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/HighlightingStrategy/DefaultHighlightingStrategy.cs b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/HighlightingStrategy/DefaultHighlightingStrategy.cs
index eba7cddee2..9be3d2f919 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/HighlightingStrategy/DefaultHighlightingStrategy.cs
+++ b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/HighlightingStrategy/DefaultHighlightingStrategy.cs
@@ -342,7 +342,7 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.TextEditor.Document
 			
 			// Check if the span state has changed, if so we must re-render the next line
 			// This check may seem utterly complicated but I didn't want to introduce any function calls
-			// or alllocations here for perf reasons.
+			// or allocations here for perf reasons.
 			if(currentLine.HighlightSpanStack != currentSpanStack) {
 				if (currentLine.HighlightSpanStack == null) {
 					processNextLine = false;
@@ -618,7 +618,7 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.TextEditor.Document
 						// check for SPAN BEGIN
 						if (activeRuleSet != null) {
 							foreach (Span span in activeRuleSet.Spans) {
-								if (currentLine.MatchExpr(span.Begin, i, document, activeRuleSet.IgnoreCase)) {
+								if ((!span.IsBeginSingleWord || currentLength == 0) && currentLine.MatchExpr(span.Begin, i, document, activeRuleSet.IgnoreCase)) {
 									PushCurWord(document, ref markNext, words);
 									string regex = currentLine.GetRegString(span.Begin, i, document);
 									
diff --git a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/HighlightingStrategy/Span.cs b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/HighlightingStrategy/Span.cs
index 5e5365d726..a235f686a8 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/HighlightingStrategy/Span.cs
+++ b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/HighlightingStrategy/Span.cs
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.TextEditor.Document
 		HighlightRuleSet ruleSet = null;
 		bool        noEscapeSequences = false;
 		bool		ignoreCase = false;
+		bool        isBeginSingleWord = false;
+		bool        isEndSingleWord = false;
 		
 		internal HighlightRuleSet RuleSet {
 			get {
@@ -56,6 +58,18 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.TextEditor.Document
 			}
 		}
 		
+		public bool IsBeginSingleWord {
+			get {
+				return isBeginSingleWord;
+			}
+		}
+		
+		public bool IsEndSingleWord {
+			get {
+				return isEndSingleWord;
+			}
+		}
+		
 		public HighlightColor Color {
 			get {
 				return color;
@@ -128,9 +142,18 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.TextEditor.Document
 			begin   = span["Begin"].InnerText.ToCharArray();
 			beginColor = new HighlightColor(span["Begin"], color);
 			
+			if (span["Begin"].HasAttribute("singleword")) {
+				this.isBeginSingleWord = Boolean.Parse(span["Begin"].GetAttribute("singleword"));
+			}
+			
+			
 			if (span["End"] != null) {
 				end  = span["End"].InnerText.ToCharArray();
 				endColor = new HighlightColor(span["End"], color);
+				if (span["End"].HasAttribute("singleword")) {
+					this.isEndSingleWord = Boolean.Parse(span["End"].GetAttribute("singleword"));
+				}
+
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/LineManager/LineSegment.cs b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/LineManager/LineSegment.cs
index 5b52f3292a..1b79fb0000 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/LineManager/LineSegment.cs
+++ b/src/Libraries/ICSharpCode.TextEditor/Project/Src/Document/LineManager/LineSegment.cs
@@ -168,6 +168,16 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.TextEditor.Document
 						++i;
 						if (i < expr.Length) {
 							switch (expr[i]) {
+								case 'C': // match whitespace or punctuation
+									if (index + j == this.Offset || index + j >= this.Offset + this.Length) {
+										// nothing (EOL or SOL)
+									} else {
+										char ch = document.GetCharAt(this.Offset + index + j);
+										if (!Char.IsWhiteSpace(ch) && !Char.IsPunctuation(ch)) {
+											return false;
+										} 
+									}
+									break;
 								case '!': // don't match the following expression
 								{
 									StringBuilder whatmatch = new StringBuilder();