diff --git a/lib/repl.js b/lib/repl.js
index e7c1ae9b32..151d6cafaf 100644
--- a/lib/repl.js
+++ b/lib/repl.js
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ var rl = require('readline');
 var Console = require('console').Console;
 var EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter;
 var domain = require('domain');
+var debug = util.debuglog('repl');
 
 // If obj.hasOwnProperty has been overridden, then calling
 // obj.hasOwnProperty(prop) will break.
@@ -119,8 +120,9 @@ function REPLServer(prompt, stream, eval_, useGlobal, ignoreUndefined) {
       });
     } catch (e) {
       err = e;
-      err._isSyntaxError = isSyntaxError(err);
+      debug('parse error %j', code, e);
     }
+
     if (!err) {
       try {
         if (self.useGlobal) {
@@ -130,21 +132,22 @@ function REPLServer(prompt, stream, eval_, useGlobal, ignoreUndefined) {
         }
       } catch (e) {
         err = e;
-        err._isSyntaxError = false;
+        if (err && process.domain) {
+          debug('not recoverable, send to domain');
+          process.domain.emit('error', err);
+          process.domain.exit();
+          return;
+        }
       }
     }
-    if (err && process.domain && !err._isSyntaxError) {
-      process.domain.emit('error', err);
-      process.domain.exit();
-    }
-    else {
-      cb(err, result);
-    }
+
+    cb(err, result);
   }
 
   self.eval = self._domain.bind(eval_);
 
   self._domain.on('error', function(e) {
+    debug('domain error');
     self.outputStream.write((e.stack || e) + '\n');
     self.bufferedCommand = '';
     self.lines.level = [];
@@ -236,6 +239,7 @@ function REPLServer(prompt, stream, eval_, useGlobal, ignoreUndefined) {
   });
 
   rli.on('line', function(cmd) {
+    debug('line %j', cmd);
     sawSIGINT = false;
     var skipCatchall = false;
     cmd = trimWhitespace(cmd);
@@ -255,60 +259,52 @@ function REPLServer(prompt, stream, eval_, useGlobal, ignoreUndefined) {
     }
 
     if (!skipCatchall) {
-      var evalCmd = self.bufferedCommand + cmd + '\n';
-
-      // This try is for determining if the command is complete, or should
-      // continue onto the next line.
-      // We try to evaluate both expressions e.g.
-      //  '{ a : 1 }'
-      // and statements e.g.
-      //  'for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) console.log(i);'
-
-      // First we attempt to eval as expression with parens.
-      // This catches '{a : 1}' properly.
-      self.eval('(' + evalCmd + ')',
-                self.context,
-                'repl',
-                function(e, ret) {
-            if (e && !e._isSyntaxError) return finish(e);
-
-            if (util.isFunction(ret) &&
-                /^[\r\n\s]*function/.test(evalCmd) || e) {
-              // Now as statement without parens.
-              self.eval(evalCmd, self.context, 'repl', finish);
-            } else {
-              finish(null, ret);
-            }
-          });
+      var evalCmd = self.bufferedCommand + cmd;
+      if (/^\s*\{/.test(evalCmd) && /\}\s*$/.test(evalCmd)) {
+        // It's confusing for `{ a : 1 }` to be interpreted as a block
+        // statement rather than an object literal.  So, we first try
+        // to wrap it in parentheses, so that it will be interpreted as
+        // an expression.
+        evalCmd = '(' + evalCmd + ')\n';
+      } else {
+        // otherwise we just append a \n so that it will be either
+        // terminated, or continued onto the next expression if it's an
+        // unexpected end of input.
+        evalCmd = evalCmd + '\n';
+      }
 
+      debug('eval %j', evalCmd);
+      self.eval(evalCmd, self.context, 'repl', finish);
     } else {
       finish(null);
     }
 
     function finish(e, ret) {
-
+      debug('finish', e, ret);
       self.memory(cmd);
 
+      if (e && !self.bufferedCommand && cmd.trim().match(/^npm /)) {
+        self.outputStream.write('npm should be run outside of the ' +
+                                'node repl, in your normal shell.\n' +
+                                '(Press Control-D to exit.)\n');
+        self.bufferedCommand = '';
+        self.displayPrompt();
+        return;
+      }
+
       // If error was SyntaxError and not JSON.parse error
-      if (e && e._isSyntaxError) {
-        if (!self.bufferedCommand && cmd.trim().match(/^npm /)) {
-          self.outputStream.write('npm should be run outside of the ' +
-                                  'node repl, in your normal shell.\n' +
-                                  '(Press Control-D to exit.)\n');
-          self.bufferedCommand = '';
+      if (e) {
+        if (isRecoverableError(e)) {
+          // Start buffering data like that:
+          // {
+          // ...  x: 1
+          // ... }
+          self.bufferedCommand += cmd + '\n';
           self.displayPrompt();
           return;
+        } else {
+          self._domain.emit('error', e);
         }
-
-        // Start buffering data like that:
-        // {
-        // ...  x: 1
-        // ... }
-        self.bufferedCommand += cmd + '\n';
-        self.displayPrompt();
-        return;
-      } else if (e) {
-        self._domain.emit('error', e);
       }
 
       // Clear buffer if no SyntaxErrors
@@ -940,15 +936,10 @@ REPLServer.prototype.convertToContext = function(cmd) {
 };
 
 
-/**
- * Returns `true` if "e" is a SyntaxError, `false` otherwise.
- * filters out strict-mode errors, which are not recoverable
- */
-function isSyntaxError(e) {
-  // Convert error to string
-  e = e && (e.stack || e.toString());
-  return e && e.match(/^SyntaxError/) &&
-      // "strict mode" syntax errors
-      !e.match(/^SyntaxError: .*strict mode.*/i) &&
-      !e.match(/^SyntaxError: Assignment to constant variable/i);
+// If the error is that we've unexpectedly ended the input,
+// then let the user try to recover by adding more input.
+function isRecoverableError(e) {
+  return e &&
+      e.name === 'SyntaxError' &&
+      /^Unexpected end of input/.test(e.message);
 }