diff --git a/phpunit.xml.dist b/phpunit.xml.dist
index 1c90819..72d933b 100644
--- a/phpunit.xml.dist
+++ b/phpunit.xml.dist
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
     convertWarningsToExceptions="true"
     processIsolation="false"
     stopOnFailure="false"
-    syntaxCheck="false"
     bootstrap="tests/bootstrap.php"
     >
 
diff --git a/src/Welldom/Document.php b/src/Welldom/Document.php
index 461eb68..b331da9 100644
--- a/src/Welldom/Document.php
+++ b/src/Welldom/Document.php
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@ public function createElement($name, $value = null, $namespaceUri = null) {
      */
     public function createNode($expression, $value = null, array $attributes = null)
     {
-        $current = ('/' === $expression{0}) ? $this : $this->documentElement;
+        $current = ('/' === $expression[0]) ? $this : $this->documentElement;
         $xpaths = explode('/', str_replace('//', '', $expression));
 
         $i = 0;
diff --git a/src/Welldom/Element.php b/src/Welldom/Element.php
index 44b4d0f..8368ab5 100644
--- a/src/Welldom/Element.php
+++ b/src/Welldom/Element.php
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ public function toArray($renderRoot = false)
                 $mValue = $childNode->getValue();
             }
 
-            $sKey = $childNode->nodeName{0} == '#' ? 0 : $childNode->nodeName;
+            $sKey = $childNode->nodeName[0] == '#' ? 0 : $childNode->nodeName;
 
             // this will give us a clue as to what the result structure should be
             // how many of these child nodes do we have?