diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 1.3.4
+
+* dropWS retains consumed whitespace values [#74](https://github.com/snoyberg/xml/issues/74) [#75](https://github.com/snoyberg/xml/pull/75) [#76](https://github.com/snoyberg/xml/pull/76)
+
 ## 1.3.3.1
 
 * Generalize signature of choose (Fixes [#72](https://github.com/snoyberg/xml/issues/72)) [#73](https://github.com/snoyberg/xml/pull/73)
diff --git a/Text/XML/Stream/Parse.hs b/Text/XML/Stream/Parse.hs
--- a/Text/XML/Stream/Parse.hs
+++ b/Text/XML/Stream/Parse.hs
@@ -652,27 +652,38 @@
                                       --   of a tag, given the value return from the @AttrParser@
     -> CI.ConduitM Event o m (Maybe c)
 tag checkName attrParser f = do
-    x <- dropWS
-    case x of
+    (x, leftovers) <- dropWS []
+    res <- case x of
         Just (EventBeginElement name as) ->
             case checkName name of
                 Just y ->
                     case runAttrParser' (attrParser y) as of
                         Left e -> lift $ monadThrow e
                         Right z -> do
-                            CL.drop 1
                             z' <- f z
-                            a <- dropWS
+                            (a, _leftovers') <- dropWS []
                             case a of
                                 Just (EventEndElement name')
-                                    | name == name' -> CL.drop 1 >> return (Just z')
+                                    | name == name' -> return (Just z')
                                 _ -> lift $ monadThrow $ XmlException ("Expected end tag for: " ++ show name) a
                 Nothing -> return Nothing
         _ -> return Nothing
+
+    case res of
+        -- Did not parse, put back all of the leading whitespace events and the
+        -- final observed event generated by dropWS
+        Nothing -> mapM_ leftover leftovers
+        -- Parse succeeded, discard all of those whitespace events and the
+        -- first parsed event
+        Just _ -> return ()
+
+    return res
   where
-    -- Drop Events until we encount a non-whitespace element
-    dropWS = do
-        x <- CL.peek
+    -- Drop Events until we encounter a non-whitespace element. Return all of
+    -- the events consumed here (including the first non-whitespace event) so
+    -- that the calling function can treat them as leftovers if the parse fails
+    dropWS leftovers = do
+        x <- await
         let isWS =
                 case x of
                     Just EventBeginDocument -> True
@@ -689,7 +700,10 @@
                     Just EventComment{} -> True
                     Just EventCDATA{} -> False
                     Nothing -> False
-        if isWS then CL.drop 1 >> dropWS else return x
+            leftovers' = maybe id (:) x leftovers
+        if isWS
+            then dropWS leftovers'
+            else return (x, leftovers')
     runAttrParser' p as =
         case runAttrParser p as of
             Left e -> Left e
diff --git a/test/main.hs b/test/main.hs
--- a/test/main.hs
+++ b/test/main.hs
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
     describe "XML parsing and rendering" $ do
         it "is idempotent to parse and render a document" documentParseRender
         it "has valid parser combinators" combinators
-        it "has working choose function" testChoose
+        context "has working choose function" testChoose
         it "has working many function" testMany
         it "has working many' function" testMany'
         it "has working manyYield function" testManyYield
@@ -155,8 +155,196 @@
         , "</hello>"
         ]
 
-testChoose :: Assertion
-testChoose = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+testChoose :: Spec
+testChoose = do
+    it "can choose between elements"
+        testChooseEitherElem
+    it "can choose between elements and text, returning text"
+        testChooseElemOrTextIsText
+    it "can choose between elements and text, returning elements"
+        testChooseElemOrTextIsElem
+    it "can choose between text and elements, returning text"
+        testChooseTextOrElemIsText
+    it "can choose between text and elements, returning elements"
+        testChooseTextOrElemIsElem
+    it "can choose between text and elements, when the text is encoded"
+        testChooseElemOrTextIsEncoded
+    it "can choose between text and elements, when the text is encoded, NBSP"
+        testChooseElemOrTextIsEncodedNBSP
+    it "can choose between elements and text, when the text is whitespace"
+        testChooseElemOrTextIsWhiteSpace
+    it "can choose between text and elements, when the text is whitespace"
+        testChooseTextOrElemIsWhiteSpace
+    it "can choose betwen text and elements, when the whitespace is both literal and encoded"
+        testChooseElemOrTextIsChunkedText
+    it "can choose between text and elements, when the text is chunked the other way"
+        testChooseElemOrTextIsChunkedText2
+
+testChooseElemOrTextIsText :: Assertion
+testChooseElemOrTextIsText = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return "boom"
+            , P.contentMaybe
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just " something "
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>"
+        , " something "
+        , "</hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseElemOrTextIsEncoded :: Assertion
+testChooseElemOrTextIsEncoded = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return "boom"
+            , P.contentMaybe
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just "\x20something\x20"
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>"
+        , "&#x20;something&#x20;"
+        , "</hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseElemOrTextIsEncodedNBSP :: Assertion
+testChooseElemOrTextIsEncodedNBSP = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return "boom"
+            , P.contentMaybe
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just "\160something\160"
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>"
+        , "&#160;something&#160;"
+        , "</hello>"
+        ]
+
+
+testChooseElemOrTextIsWhiteSpace :: Assertion
+testChooseElemOrTextIsWhiteSpace = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return "boom"
+            , P.contentMaybe
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just "\x20\x20\x20"
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>   </hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseTextOrElemIsWhiteSpace :: Assertion
+testChooseTextOrElemIsWhiteSpace = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.contentMaybe
+            , P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return "boom"
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just "\x20\x20\x20"
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>   </hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseElemOrTextIsChunkedText :: Assertion
+testChooseElemOrTextIsChunkedText = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return "boom"
+            , P.contentMaybe
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just "\x20\x20\x20"
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello> &#x20; </hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseElemOrTextIsChunkedText2 :: Assertion
+testChooseElemOrTextIsChunkedText2 = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return "boom"
+            , P.contentMaybe
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just "\x20\x20\x20"
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>&#x20; &#x20;</hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseElemOrTextIsElem :: Assertion
+testChooseElemOrTextIsElem = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.tagNoAttr "success" $ return "success"
+            , P.contentMaybe
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just "success"
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>"
+        , "<success/>"
+        , "</hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseTextOrElemIsText :: Assertion
+testChooseTextOrElemIsText = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.contentMaybe
+            , P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return "boom"
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just " something "
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>"
+        , " something "
+        , "</hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseTextOrElemIsElem :: Assertion
+testChooseTextOrElemIsElem = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
+    P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
+        x <- P.choose
+            [ P.contentMaybe
+            , P.tagNoAttr "success" $ return "success"
+            ]
+        liftIO $ x @?= Just "success"
+  where
+    input = L.concat
+        [ "<?xml version='1.0'?>"
+        , "<!DOCTYPE foo []>\n"
+        , "<hello>"
+        , "<success/>"
+        , "</hello>"
+        ]
+
+testChooseEitherElem :: Assertion
+testChooseEitherElem = C.runResourceT $ P.parseLBS def input C.$$ do
     P.force "need hello" $ P.tagNoAttr "hello" $ do
         x <- P.choose
             [ P.tagNoAttr "failure" $ return 1
diff --git a/xml-conduit.cabal b/xml-conduit.cabal
--- a/xml-conduit.cabal
+++ b/xml-conduit.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            xml-conduit
-version:         1.3.3.1
+version:         1.3.4
 license:         MIT
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>, Aristid Breitkreuz <aristidb@googlemail.com>