diff --git a/COPYRIGHT b/COPYRIGHT
--- a/COPYRIGHT
+++ b/COPYRIGHT
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
     (c) copyright 1998-2000    Malcolm Wallace
 The modules Text.ParserCombinators.Poly* and Text.Parse and Text.Parse.*
 are
-    (c) copyright 2006-2011    Malcolm Wallace
+    (c) copyright 2006-2013    Malcolm Wallace
 
 These modules are licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser
 General Public Licence (LGPL), which can be found in the file called
diff --git a/polyparse.cabal b/polyparse.cabal
--- a/polyparse.cabal
+++ b/polyparse.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:		polyparse
-version:	1.8
+version:	1.9
 license:	LGPL
 license-file:	COPYRIGHT
 author:		Malcolm Wallace <Malcolm.Wallace@me.com>
@@ -44,6 +44,6 @@
         Text.ParserCombinators.Poly.Text
         Text.ParserCombinators.Poly.StateText
 --      Text.Parse.Text
-  cpp-options:		-DVERSION="1.8"
+  cpp-options:		-DVERSION="1.9"
   nhc98-options:	-K6M
   extensions:		CPP
diff --git a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Base.hs b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Base.hs
--- a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Base.hs
+++ b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Base.hs
@@ -179,10 +179,14 @@
        }
 
 -- | Parse a bracketed item, discarding the brackets.
+--   If everything matches /except/ the closing bracket, the whole
+--   parse fails soft, which can give less-than-satisfying error messages.
+--   If you want better error messages, try calling with e.g.
+--     @bracket open (commit close) item@
 bracket :: PolyParse p => p bra -> p ket -> p a -> p a
 bracket open close p = do
     do { open    `adjustErr` ("Missing opening bracket:\n\t"++)
-       ; p `discard` (close `adjustErrBad` ("Missing closing bracket:\n\t"++))
+       ; p `discard` (close `adjustErr` ("Missing closing bracket:\n\t"++))
        }
 
 -- | @manyFinally e t@ parses a possibly-empty sequence of @e@'s,
diff --git a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/ByteString.hs b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/ByteString.hs
--- a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/ByteString.hs
+++ b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/ByteString.hs
@@ -43,12 +43,14 @@
     (P f) >>= g  = P (continue . f)
       where
         continue (Success ts x)             = let (P g') = g x in g' ts
-        continue (Committed (Committed r))  = continue (Committed r)
         continue (Committed r)              = Committed (continue r)
         continue (Failure ts e)             = Failure ts e
 
 instance Commitment Parser where
-    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . p)
+    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . squash . p)
+      where
+        squash (Committed r) = squash r
+        squash r             = r
     (P p) `adjustErr` f  = P (adjust . p)
       where
         adjust (Failure z e) = Failure z (f e)
diff --git a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/ByteStringChar.hs b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/ByteStringChar.hs
--- a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/ByteStringChar.hs
+++ b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/ByteStringChar.hs
@@ -42,12 +42,14 @@
     (P f) >>= g  = P (continue . f)
       where
         continue (Success ts x)             = let (P g') = g x in g' ts
-        continue (Committed (Committed r))  = continue (Committed r)
         continue (Committed r)              = Committed (continue r)
         continue (Failure ts e)             = Failure ts e
 
 instance Commitment Parser where
-    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . p)
+    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . squash . p)
+      where
+        squash (Committed r) = squash r
+        squash r             = r
     (P p) `adjustErr` f  = P (adjust . p)
       where
         adjust (Failure z e) = Failure z (f e)
diff --git a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Lex.hs b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Lex.hs
--- a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Lex.hs
+++ b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Lex.hs
@@ -59,12 +59,14 @@
     (P f) >>= g  = P (continue . f)
       where
         continue (Success ts x)             = let (P g') = g x in g' ts
-        continue (Committed (Committed r))  = continue (Committed r)
         continue (Committed r)              = Committed (continue r)
         continue (Failure ts e)             = Failure ts e
 
 instance Commitment (Parser t) where
-    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . p)
+    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . squash . p)
+      where
+        squash (Committed r) = squash r
+        squash r             = r
     (P p) `adjustErr` f  = P (adjust . p)
       where
         adjust (Failure z e) = Failure z (f e)
diff --git a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Parser.hs b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Parser.hs
--- a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Parser.hs
+++ b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Parser.hs
@@ -35,12 +35,14 @@
     (P f) >>= g  = P (continue . f)
       where
         continue (Success ts x)             = let (P g') = g x in g' ts
-        continue (Committed (Committed r))  = continue (Committed r)
         continue (Committed r)              = Committed (continue r)
         continue (Failure ts e)             = Failure ts e
 
 instance Commitment (Parser t) where
-    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . p)
+    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . squash . p)
+      where
+        squash (Committed r) = squash r
+        squash r             = r
     (P p) `adjustErr` f  = P (adjust . p)
       where
         adjust (Failure z e) = Failure z (f e)
diff --git a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/StateParser.hs b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/StateParser.hs
--- a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/StateParser.hs
+++ b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/StateParser.hs
@@ -38,12 +38,14 @@
     (P f) >>= g  = P (\s-> continue . f s)
       where
         continue (Success (ts,s) x)        = let (P g') = g x in g' s ts
-        continue (Committed (Committed r)) = continue (Committed r)
         continue (Committed r)             = Committed (continue r)
         continue (Failure tss e)           = Failure tss e
 
 instance Commitment (Parser s t) where
-    commit (P p)         = P (\s-> Committed . p s)
+    commit (P p)         = P (\s-> Committed . squash . p s)
+      where
+        squash (Committed r) = squash r
+        squash r             = r
     (P p) `adjustErr` f  = P (\s-> adjust . p s)
       where
         adjust (Failure zs e)  = Failure zs (f e)
diff --git a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/StateText.hs b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/StateText.hs
--- a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/StateText.hs
+++ b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/StateText.hs
@@ -49,12 +49,14 @@
     (P f) >>= g  = P (\s-> continue . f s)
       where
         continue (Success (ts,s) x)         = let (P g') = g x in g' s ts
-        continue (Committed (Committed r))  = continue (Committed r)
         continue (Committed r)              = Committed (continue r)
         continue (Failure ts e)             = Failure ts e
 
 instance Commitment (Parser s) where
-    commit (P p)         = P (\s-> Committed . p s)
+    commit (P p)         = P (\s-> Committed . squash . p s)
+      where
+        squash (Committed r) = squash r
+        squash r             = r
     (P p) `adjustErr` f  = P (\s-> adjust . p s)
       where
         adjust (Failure z e) = Failure z (f e)
diff --git a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Text.hs b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Text.hs
--- a/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Text.hs
+++ b/src/Text/ParserCombinators/Poly/Text.hs
@@ -43,12 +43,14 @@
     (P f) >>= g  = P (continue . f)
       where
         continue (Success ts x)             = let (P g') = g x in g' ts
-        continue (Committed (Committed r))  = continue (Committed r)
         continue (Committed r)              = Committed (continue r)
         continue (Failure ts e)             = Failure ts e
 
 instance Commitment Parser where
-    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . p)
+    commit (P p)         = P (Committed . squash . p)
+      where
+        squash (Committed r) = squash r
+        squash r             = r
     (P p) `adjustErr` f  = P (adjust . p)
       where
         adjust (Failure z e) = Failure z (f e)