diff --git a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/commands/SmartSemicolonHandler.java b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/commands/SmartSemicolonHandler.java
index 3bc3095..c693769 100644
--- a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/commands/SmartSemicolonHandler.java
+++ b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/commands/SmartSemicolonHandler.java
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.EObject;
 import org.eclipse.jface.text.BadLocationException;
 import org.eclipse.swt.custom.StyledText;
-import org.eclipse.xtext.*;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.nodemodel.INode;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.resource.XtextResource;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.ui.editor.XtextEditor;
@@ -87,14 +86,13 @@
   private ContentToInsert newContent(final XtextEditor editor, final StyledText styledText, final String line) {
     if (line.endsWith(SEMICOLON)) return INSERT_SEMICOLON_AT_CURRENT_LOCATION;
     final IXtextDocument document = editor.getDocument();
-    ContentToInsert contentToInsert = ContentToInsert.NONE;
     try {
-      contentToInsert = document.modify(new IUnitOfWork<ContentToInsert, XtextResource>() {
+      return document.modify(new IUnitOfWork<ContentToInsert, XtextResource>() {
         public ContentToInsert exec(XtextResource resource) {
           int offset = styledText.getCaretOffset();
           ContentAssistContext[] context = contextFactory.create(editor.getInternalSourceViewer(), offset, resource);
           for (ContentAssistContext c : context) {
-            if (isCommentOrString(c.getCurrentNode())) continue;
+            if (nodes.isCommentOrString(c.getCurrentNode())) continue;
             EObject model = c.getCurrentModel();
             if (model instanceof Message || model instanceof Enum || model instanceof Protobuf) {
               // need to retry, parsing may not be finished yet.
@@ -132,20 +130,6 @@
       logger.error("Unable to generate tag number", e);
       return INSERT_SEMICOLON_AT_CURRENT_LOCATION;
     }
-    return contentToInsert;
-  }
-
-  private boolean isCommentOrString(INode currentNode) {
-    return nodes.wasCreatedByAnyComment(currentNode) || wasCreatedByString(currentNode);
-  }
-
-  private boolean wasCreatedByString(INode node) {
-    EObject grammarElement = node.getGrammarElement();
-    if (!(grammarElement instanceof RuleCall)) return false;
-    AbstractRule rule = ((RuleCall) grammarElement).getRule();
-    if (!(rule instanceof TerminalRule)) return false;
-    TerminalRule terminalRule = (TerminalRule) rule;
-    return "STRING".equals(terminalRule.getName());
   }
 
   private ContentToInsert newContent(Literal literal) {
diff --git a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/editor/spelling/NodeBasedRegion.java b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/editor/spelling/NodeBasedRegion.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab9396c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/editor/spelling/NodeBasedRegion.java
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2011 Google Inc.
+ * 
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials are made
+ * available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 which
+ * accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * 
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ */
+package com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui.editor.spelling;
+
+import org.eclipse.jface.text.IRegion;
+import org.eclipse.xtext.nodemodel.INode;
+
+class NodeBasedRegion implements IRegion {
+  
+  private final int length;
+  private final int offset;
+  private final String text;
+
+  NodeBasedRegion(INode node) {
+    length = node.getTotalLength();
+    offset = node.getTotalOffset();
+    text = node.getText();
+  }
+
+  public int getLength() {
+    return length;
+  }
+
+  public int getOffset() {
+    return offset;
+  }
+
+  @Override public boolean equals(Object obj) {
+    if (this == obj) return true;
+    if (obj == null) return false;
+    if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) return false;
+    NodeBasedRegion other = (NodeBasedRegion) obj;
+    if (length != other.length) return false;
+    return offset == other.offset;
+  }
+
+  @Override public int hashCode() {
+    final int prime = 31;
+    int result = 1;
+    result = prime * result + length;
+    result = prime * result + offset;
+    return result;
+  }
+
+  @Override public String toString() {
+    String format = getClass().getSimpleName() + " [length=%s, offset=%s, text=%s]";
+    return String.format(format, length, offset, quote(text));
+  }
+  
+  private String quote(String s) {
+    if (s == null) return s;
+    return "'" + s + "'";
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/editor/spelling/ProtobufReconcileStrategy.java b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/editor/spelling/ProtobufReconcileStrategy.java
index 25220b7..ba2991a 100644
--- a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/editor/spelling/ProtobufReconcileStrategy.java
+++ b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/ui/editor/spelling/ProtobufReconcileStrategy.java
@@ -9,11 +9,27 @@
  */
 package com.google.eclipse.protobuf.ui.editor.spelling;
 
+import static java.util.Collections.emptyList;
+import static org.eclipse.xtext.nodemodel.util.NodeModelUtils.findLeafNodeAtOffset;
+import static org.eclipse.xtext.util.Strings.isEmpty;
+
+import com.google.eclipse.protobuf.protobuf.Import;
+import com.google.eclipse.protobuf.util.ModelNodes;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+
 import org.eclipse.jface.text.*;
 import org.eclipse.jface.text.reconciler.DirtyRegion;
 import org.eclipse.jface.text.source.ISourceViewer;
 import org.eclipse.ui.texteditor.spelling.*;
+import org.eclipse.xtext.nodemodel.*;
+import org.eclipse.xtext.nodemodel.impl.AbstractNode;
+import org.eclipse.xtext.parser.IParseResult;
+import org.eclipse.xtext.resource.XtextResource;
+import org.eclipse.xtext.ui.editor.model.XtextDocument;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.ui.editor.reconciler.XtextDocumentReconcileStrategy;
+import org.eclipse.xtext.util.concurrent.IUnitOfWork;
+
+import java.util.*;
 
 /**
  * @author alruiz@google.com (Alex Ruiz)
@@ -21,11 +37,26 @@
 public class ProtobufReconcileStrategy extends XtextDocumentReconcileStrategy {
 
   private SpellingReconcileStrategy spellingStrategy;
+  private XtextDocument document;
+
+  @Inject private ModelNodes nodes;
 
   @Override public void reconcile(DirtyRegion dirtyRegion, IRegion subRegion) {
     super.reconcile(dirtyRegion, subRegion);
     if (spellingStrategy == null) return;
-    spellingStrategy.reconcile(dirtyRegion, subRegion);
+    INode node = nodeToSpellCheck(subRegion);
+    if (node != null) spellingStrategy.reconcile(dirtyRegion, new NodeBasedRegion(node));
+  }
+
+  private INode nodeToSpellCheck(final IRegion subRegion) {
+    if (document == null) return null;
+    return document.readOnly(new IUnitOfWork<INode, XtextResource>() {
+      public INode exec(XtextResource resource) throws Exception {
+        IParseResult parseResult = resource.getParseResult();
+        ILeafNode node = findLeafNodeAtOffset(parseResult.getRootNode(), subRegion.getOffset());
+        return shouldSpellCheck(node) ? node : null;
+      }
+    });
   }
 
   @Override public void reconcile(IRegion subRegion) {
@@ -35,6 +66,7 @@
 
   @Override public void setDocument(IDocument document) {
     super.setDocument(document);
+    this.document = (XtextDocument) document;
     if (spellingStrategy == null) return;
     spellingStrategy.setDocument(document);
     initialReconcile();
@@ -42,7 +74,44 @@
 
   private void initialReconcile() {
     if (spellingStrategy == null) return;
-    spellingStrategy.initialReconcile();
+    for (IRegion region : regionsToSpellCheck()) {
+      spellingStrategy.reconcile(region);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private Collection<IRegion> regionsToSpellCheck() {
+    if (document == null) return emptyList();
+    return document.readOnly(new IUnitOfWork<Collection<IRegion>, XtextResource>() {
+      public Collection<IRegion> exec(XtextResource resource) throws Exception {
+        return regionsToSpellCheck(resource.getParseResult().getRootNode());
+      }
+    });
+  }
+  
+  private Collection<IRegion> regionsToSpellCheck(INode root) {
+    if (!(root instanceof AbstractNode)) {
+      System.out.println("is not instanceof AbstractNode: " + root);
+      return emptyList();
+    }
+    Set<IRegion> regions = new HashSet<IRegion>();
+    BidiTreeIterator<AbstractNode> iterator = ((AbstractNode) root).basicIterator();
+    while (iterator.hasNext()) {
+      AbstractNode next = iterator.next();
+      if (next == root) continue;
+      if (next instanceof ILeafNode) {
+        if (shouldSpellCheck(next)) regions.add(new NodeBasedRegion(next));
+        continue;
+      }
+      if (next.getSemanticElement() instanceof Import) continue;
+      regions.addAll(regionsToSpellCheck(next));
+    }
+    return regions;
+  }
+  
+  private boolean shouldSpellCheck(INode node) {
+    String text = node.getText();
+    if (isEmpty(text) || isEmpty(text.trim())) return false;
+    return nodes.isCommentOrString(node);
   }
 
   void addSpellSupport(ISourceViewer viewer, SpellingService spellingService) {
diff --git a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/util/ModelNodes.java b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/util/ModelNodes.java
index bdd8f79..1fce06a 100644
--- a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/util/ModelNodes.java
+++ b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/util/ModelNodes.java
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
 
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.*;
-import org.eclipse.xtext.TerminalRule;
+import org.eclipse.xtext.*;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.nodemodel.INode;
 
 import java.util.List;
@@ -40,6 +40,16 @@
     if (nodes.isEmpty()) return null;
     return nodes.get(0);
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Indicates whether the given node was created by a string, or a single- or multi-line comment.
+   * @param node the node to check.
+   * @return {@code true} if the given node was created by a string, or a single- or multi-line comment; {@code false} 
+   * otherwise.
+   */
+  public boolean isCommentOrString(INode node) {
+    return wasCreatedByAnyComment(node) || wasCreatedByString(node);
+  }
   
   /**
    * Indicates whether the given node was created by a single- or multi-line comment.
@@ -50,6 +60,16 @@
     return wasCreatedByComment(node, SINGLE_LINE_COMMENT_RULE_NAME, "ML_COMMENT");
   }
 
+  private boolean wasCreatedByString(INode node) {
+    EObject grammarElement = node.getGrammarElement();
+    if (!(grammarElement instanceof RuleCall)) return false;
+    AbstractRule rule = ((RuleCall) grammarElement).getRule();
+    if (!(rule instanceof TerminalRule)) return false;
+    TerminalRule terminalRule = (TerminalRule) rule;
+    return "STRING".equals(terminalRule.getName());
+  }
+
+  
   /**
    * Indicates whether the given node was created by a single-line comment.
    * @param node the node to check.