diff --git a/src/Tokenizers/PHP.php b/src/Tokenizers/PHP.php
index 88f8126bc4..7a62245929 100644
--- a/src/Tokenizers/PHP.php
+++ b/src/Tokenizers/PHP.php
@@ -1469,6 +1469,7 @@ protected function tokenize($string)
 
                     if ($x < $numTokens
                         && is_array($tokens[$x]) === true
+                        && $tokens[$x][0] !== T_STRING
                         && $tokens[$x][0] !== T_NAME_QUALIFIED
                     ) {
                         if (PHP_CODESNIFFER_VERBOSITY > 1) {