diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/analysis/LeftRecursiveRuleTransformer.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/analysis/LeftRecursiveRuleTransformer.java
index cb58c54ee..ea67493f9 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/analysis/LeftRecursiveRuleTransformer.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/analysis/LeftRecursiveRuleTransformer.java
@@ -93,7 +93,12 @@ public class LeftRecursiveRuleTransformer {
 			if ( !Grammar.isTokenName(r.name) ) {
 				if ( LeftRecursiveRuleAnalyzer.hasImmediateRecursiveRuleRefs(r.ast, r.name) ) {
 					boolean fitsPattern = translateLeftRecursiveRule(ast, (LeftRecursiveRule)r, language);
-					if ( fitsPattern ) leftRecursiveRuleNames.add(r.name);
+					if ( fitsPattern ) {
+						leftRecursiveRuleNames.add(r.name);
+					}
+					else { // better given an error that non-conforming left-recursion exists
+						tool.errMgr.grammarError(ErrorType.NONCONFORMING_LR_RULE, g.fileName, ((GrammarAST)r.ast.getChild(0)).token, r.name);
+					}
 				}
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/parse/GrammarTreeVisitor.g b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/parse/GrammarTreeVisitor.g
index 72f6ffb85..9c8b1be43 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/parse/GrammarTreeVisitor.g
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/parse/GrammarTreeVisitor.g
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ package org.antlr.v4.parse;
 import org.antlr.v4.Tool;
 import org.antlr.v4.tool.*;
 import org.antlr.v4.tool.ast.*;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 }
 
@@ -105,8 +106,12 @@ public void visit(GrammarAST t, String ruleName) {
 		Method m = getClass().getMethod(ruleName);
 		m.invoke(this);
 	}
-	catch (Exception e) {
+	catch (Throwable e) {
 		ErrorManager errMgr = getErrorManager();
+		if ( e instanceof InvocationTargetException ) {
+			e = e.getCause();
+		}
+		//e.printStackTrace(System.err);
 		if ( errMgr==null ) {
 			System.err.println("can't find rule "+ruleName+
 							   " or tree structure error: "+t.toStringTree()
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/semantics/SemanticPipeline.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/semantics/SemanticPipeline.java
index ba8dae740..3561f91a8 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/semantics/SemanticPipeline.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/semantics/SemanticPipeline.java
@@ -85,14 +85,15 @@ public class SemanticPipeline {
 		BasicSemanticChecks basics = new BasicSemanticChecks(g, ruleCollector);
 		basics.process();
 
-		// don't continue if we get errors in this basic check
-		//if ( false ) return;
-
 		// TRANSFORM LEFT-RECURSIVE RULES
+		int prevErrors = g.tool.errMgr.getNumErrors();
 		LeftRecursiveRuleTransformer lrtrans =
 			new LeftRecursiveRuleTransformer(g.ast, ruleCollector.rules.values(), g);
 		lrtrans.translateLeftRecursiveRules();
 
+		// don't continue if we got errors during left-recursion elimination
+		if ( g.tool.errMgr.getNumErrors()>prevErrors ) return;
+
 		// STORE RULES IN GRAMMAR
 		for (Rule r : ruleCollector.rules.values()) {
 			g.defineRule(r);
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ErrorType.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ErrorType.java
index 8e70ff452..6b94f9d3d 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ErrorType.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/tool/ErrorType.java
@@ -956,6 +956,8 @@ public enum ErrorType {
 	 */
 	CHANNELS_BLOCK_IN_COMBINED_GRAMMAR(164, "custom channels are not supported in combined grammars", ErrorSeverity.ERROR),
 
+	NONCONFORMING_LR_RULE(165, "rule <arg> is left recursive but doesn't conform to a pattern ANTLR can handle", ErrorSeverity.ERROR),
+
 	/*
 	 * Backward incompatibility errors
 	 */
diff --git a/tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/tool/TestLeftRecursion.java b/tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/tool/TestLeftRecursionToolIssues.java
similarity index 56%
rename from tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/tool/TestLeftRecursion.java
rename to tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/tool/TestLeftRecursionToolIssues.java
index f13b99bea..973befa85 100644
--- a/tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/tool/TestLeftRecursion.java
+++ b/tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/tool/TestLeftRecursionToolIssues.java
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ import org.antlr.v4.tool.ErrorType;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 /** */
-public class TestLeftRecursion extends BaseTest {
+public class TestLeftRecursionToolIssues extends BaseTest {
 	protected boolean debug = false;
 
 	@Test public void testCheckForNonLeftRecursiveRule() throws Exception {
@@ -64,4 +64,60 @@ public class TestLeftRecursion extends BaseTest {
 		testErrors(new String[] { grammar, expected }, false);
 	}
 
+	/** Reproduces https://github.com/antlr/antlr4/issues/855 */
+	@Test public void testLeftRecursiveRuleRefWithArg() throws Exception {
+		String grammar =
+			"grammar T;\n" +
+			"statement\n" +
+			"locals[Scope scope]\n" +
+			"    : expressionA[$scope] ';'\n" +
+			"    ;\n" +
+			"expressionA[Scope scope]\n" +
+			"    : atom[$scope]\n" +
+			"    | expressionA[$scope] '[' expressionA[$scope] ']'\n" +
+			"    ;\n" +
+			"atom[Scope scope]\n" +
+			"    : 'dummy'\n" +
+			"    ;\n";
+		String expected =
+			"error(" + ErrorType.NONCONFORMING_LR_RULE.code + "): T.g4:6:0: rule expressionA is left recursive but doesn't conform to a pattern ANTLR can handle\n";
+		testErrors(new String[]{grammar, expected}, false);
+	}
+
+	/** Reproduces https://github.com/antlr/antlr4/issues/855 */
+	@Test public void testLeftRecursiveRuleRefWithArg2() throws Exception {
+		String grammar =
+			"grammar T;\n" +
+			"a[int i] : 'x'\n" +
+			"  | a[3] 'y'\n" +
+			"  ;";
+		String expected =
+			"error(" + ErrorType.NONCONFORMING_LR_RULE.code + "): T.g4:2:0: rule a is left recursive but doesn't conform to a pattern ANTLR can handle\n";
+		testErrors(new String[]{grammar, expected}, false);
+	}
+
+
+	/** Reproduces https://github.com/antlr/antlr4/issues/855 */
+	@Test public void testLeftRecursiveRuleRefWithArg3() throws Exception {
+		String grammar =
+			"grammar T;\n" +
+			"a : 'x'\n" +
+			"  | a[3] 'y'\n" +
+			"  ;";
+		String expected =
+			"error(" + ErrorType.NONCONFORMING_LR_RULE.code + "): T.g4:2:0: rule a is left recursive but doesn't conform to a pattern ANTLR can handle\n";
+		testErrors(new String[]{grammar, expected}, false);
+	}
+
+
+	/** Reproduces https://github.com/antlr/antlr4/issues/822 */
+	@Test public void testIsolatedLeftRecursiveRuleRef() throws Exception {
+		String grammar =
+			"grammar T;\n" +
+			"a : a | b ;\n" +
+			"b : 'B' ;\n";
+		String expected =
+			"error(" + ErrorType.NONCONFORMING_LR_RULE.code + "): T.g4:2:0: rule a is left recursive but doesn't conform to a pattern ANTLR can handle\n";
+		testErrors(new String[]{grammar, expected}, false);
+	}
 }