diff --git a/tool/playground/T.g b/tool/playground/T.g
index 2554840ae..777c6ec38 100644
--- a/tool/playground/T.g
+++ b/tool/playground/T.g
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
 grammar T;
 
-options {
- superClass=Z;
-}
-
 s : A ;
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/Tool.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/Tool.java
index c4cb23a75..8f5dd37d5 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/Tool.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/Tool.java
@@ -125,24 +125,24 @@ public class Tool {
 	public boolean verbose_dfa = false;
 	public boolean gen_listener = true;
 	public boolean gen_visitor = false;
-	public boolean abstract_recognizer = false;
 	public Map<String, String> grammarOptions = null;
 
     public static Option[] optionDefs = {
         new Option("outputDirectory",	"-o", OptionArgType.STRING, "specify output directory where all output is generated"),
         new Option("libDirectory",		"-lib", OptionArgType.STRING, "specify location of grammars, tokens files"),
+/*
         new Option("report",			"-report", "print out a report about the grammar(s) processed"),
         new Option("printGrammar",		"-print", "print out the grammar without actions"),
         new Option("debug",				"-debug", "generate a parser that emits debugging events"),
         new Option("profile",			"-profile", "generate a parser that computes profiling information"),
+         */
         new Option("generate_ATN_dot",	"-atn", "generate rule augmented transition network diagrams"),
 		new Option("grammarEncoding",	"-encoding", OptionArgType.STRING, "specify grammar file encoding; e.g., euc-jp"),
-		new Option("msgFormat",			"-message-format", OptionArgType.STRING, "specify output style for messages"),
+		new Option("msgFormat",			"-message-format", OptionArgType.STRING, "specify output style for messages in antlr, gnu, vs2005"),
 		new Option("gen_listener",		"-listener", "generate parse tree listener (default)"),
 		new Option("gen_listener",		"-no-listener", "don't generate parse tree listener"),
 		new Option("gen_visitor",		"-visitor", "generate parse tree visitor"),
 		new Option("gen_visitor",		"-no-visitor", "don't generate parse tree visitor (default)"),
-		new Option("abstract_recognizer", "-abstract", "generate abstract recognizer classes"),
 		new Option("",					"-D<option>=value", "set a grammar-level option"),
 
 
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ public class Tool {
 
 	protected List<String> grammarFiles = new ArrayList<String>();
 
-	public ErrorManager errMgr = new ErrorManager(this);
+	public ErrorManager errMgr;
     public LogManager logMgr = new LogManager();
 
 	List<ANTLRToolListener> listeners = new CopyOnWriteArrayList<ANTLRToolListener>();
@@ -207,6 +207,8 @@ public class Tool {
 	public Tool(String[] args) {
 		this.args = args;
 		handleArgs();
+		errMgr = new ErrorManager(this);
+		errMgr.setFormat(msgFormat);
 	}
 
 	protected void handleArgs() {
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ErrorManager.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ErrorManager.java
index 2ee04cea4..8ec48a793 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ErrorManager.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ErrorManager.java
@@ -82,11 +82,6 @@ public class ErrorManager {
 
 	public ErrorManager(Tool tool) {
 		this.tool = tool;
-		// try to load the message format group
-		// the user might have specified one on the command line
-		// if not, or if the user has given an illegal value, we will fall back to "antlr"
-		setFormat("antlr");
-		//org.stringtemplate.v4.misc.ErrorManager.setErrorListener(theDefaultSTListener);
 	}
 
 	public void resetErrorState() {
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/Grammar.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/Grammar.java
index 1a11f864f..72051a8ce 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/Grammar.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/Grammar.java
@@ -402,8 +402,7 @@ public class Grammar implements AttributeResolver {
     }
 
 	public boolean isAbstract() {
-		return Boolean.parseBoolean(getOptionString("abstract"))
-			|| (tool != null && tool.abstract_recognizer);
+		return Boolean.parseBoolean(getOptionString("abstract"));
 	}
 
     /** Get the name of the generated recognizer; may or may not be same
@@ -729,25 +728,6 @@ public class Grammar implements AttributeResolver {
 
 	public String getOptionString(String key) { return ast.getOptionString(key); }
 
-	/** Manually get language option from tree */
-	// TODO: move to general tree visitor/parser class?
-	// TODO: don't need anymore as i set optins in parser?
-	public static String getLanguageOption(GrammarRootAST ast) {
-		GrammarAST options = (GrammarAST)ast.getFirstChildWithType(ANTLRParser.OPTIONS);
-		String language = "Java";
-		if ( options!=null ) {
-			for (Object o : options.getChildren()) {
-				GrammarAST c = (GrammarAST)o;
-				if ( c.getType() == ANTLRParser.ASSIGN &&
-				c.getChild(0).getText().equals("language") )
-				{
-					language = c.getChild(1).getText();
-				}
-			}
-		}
-		return language;
-	}
-
 	/** Given ^(TOKEN_REF ^(OPTIONS ^(ELEMENT_OPTIONS (= assoc right))))
 	 *  set option assoc=right in TOKEN_REF.
 	 */
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ast/GrammarRootAST.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ast/GrammarRootAST.java
index 87f1bb35e..75e6d54e7 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ast/GrammarRootAST.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ast/GrammarRootAST.java
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ import java.util.Map;
 public class GrammarRootAST extends GrammarASTWithOptions {
 	public static final Map<String, String> defaultOptions =
          new HashMap<String, String>() {{
-             put("language","Java");
+			 put("language","Java");
+			 put("abstract","false");
 		 }};
     public int grammarType; // LEXER, PARSER, GRAMMAR (combined)
 	public boolean hasErrors;