diff --git a/skylighting-core/xml/php.xml b/skylighting-core/xml/php.xml
index 063bb96..87a1fdd 100644
--- a/skylighting-core/xml/php.xml
+++ b/skylighting-core/xml/php.xml
@@ -10911,7 +10911,8 @@
     </list>
 
     <contexts>
-      <context name="start" lineEndContext="#stay" attribute="Normal Text">
+      <!-- JGM:  Added fallthrough so it will handle snippets that don't begin with <?php -->
+       <context name="start" lineEndContext="#stay" attribute="Normal Text" fallthrough="true" fallthroughContext="phpsource">
         <StringDetect context="phpsource" attribute="Keyword" String="&lt;?php" insensitive="true" />
         <Detect2Chars context="phpsource" attribute="Keyword" char="&lt;" char1="?" />
         <Detect2Chars attribute="Keyword" context="#pop" char="?" char1="&gt;" />