diff --git a/src/lint/linter/xhpast/rules/__tests__/ArcanistXHPASTLinterRuleTestCase.php b/src/lint/linter/xhpast/rules/__tests__/ArcanistXHPASTLinterRuleTestCase.php
index 342d059b..faf349bf 100644
--- a/src/lint/linter/xhpast/rules/__tests__/ArcanistXHPASTLinterRuleTestCase.php
+++ b/src/lint/linter/xhpast/rules/__tests__/ArcanistXHPASTLinterRuleTestCase.php
@@ -1,32 +1,43 @@
 <?php
 
 /**
  * Facilitates implementation of test cases for
  * @{class:ArcanistXHPASTLinterRule}s.
  */
 abstract class ArcanistXHPASTLinterRuleTestCase
   extends ArcanistLinterTestCase {
 
   final protected function getLinter() {
+    // Always include this rule so we get good messages if a test includes
+    // a syntax error. No normal test should contain syntax errors.
+    $syntax_rule = new ArcanistSyntaxErrorXHPASTLinterRule();
+
+    $test_rule = $this->getLinterRule();
+
+    $rules = array(
+      $syntax_rule,
+      $test_rule,
+    );
+
     return id(new ArcanistXHPASTLinter())
-      ->setRules(array($this->getLinterRule()));
+      ->setRules($rules);
   }
 
   /**
    * Returns an instance of the linter rule being tested.
    *
    * @return ArcanistXHPASTLinterRule
    */
   protected function getLinterRule() {
     $class = get_class($this);
     $matches = null;
 
     if (!preg_match('/^(\w+XHPASTLinterRule)TestCase$/', $class, $matches) ||
         !is_subclass_of($matches[1], 'ArcanistXHPASTLinterRule')) {
       throw new Exception(pht('Unable to infer linter rule class name.'));
     }
 
     return newv($matches[1], array());
   }
 
 }