diff --git a/tgt-vhdl/expr.cc b/tgt-vhdl/expr.cc
index 0bf7d7991..e88d60935 100644
--- a/tgt-vhdl/expr.cc
+++ b/tgt-vhdl/expr.cc
@@ -446,22 +446,25 @@ static vhdl_expr *translate_binary(ivl_expr_t e)
 
 static vhdl_expr *translate_select(ivl_expr_t e)
 {
-   vhdl_var_ref *from =
-      dynamic_cast<vhdl_var_ref*>(translate_expr(ivl_expr_oper1(e)));
-   if (NULL == from) {
-      error("Can only select from variable reference");
+   vhdl_expr *from = translate_expr(ivl_expr_oper1(e));
+   if (NULL == from)
       return NULL;
-   }
 
    ivl_expr_t o2 = ivl_expr_oper2(e);
    if (o2) {
+      vhdl_var_ref *from_var_ref = dynamic_cast<vhdl_var_ref*>(from);
+      if (NULL == from_var_ref) {
+         error("Can only select from variable reference");
+         return NULL;
+      }
+      
       vhdl_expr *base = translate_expr(ivl_expr_oper2(e));
       if (NULL == base)
          return NULL;
 
       vhdl_type integer(VHDL_TYPE_INTEGER);
-      from->set_slice(base->cast(&integer), ivl_expr_width(e) - 1);
-      return from;
+      from_var_ref->set_slice(base->cast(&integer), ivl_expr_width(e) - 1);
+      return from_var_ref;
    }
    else
       return from->resize(ivl_expr_width(e));
diff --git a/tgt-vhdl/scope.cc b/tgt-vhdl/scope.cc
index 2d4272049..ee0abdd7e 100644
--- a/tgt-vhdl/scope.cc
+++ b/tgt-vhdl/scope.cc
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ static string make_safe_name(ivl_signal_t sig)
    const char *base = ivl_signal_basename(sig);      
    if (base[0] == '_')
       return string("VL") + base;
-   
+
    const char *vhdl_reserved[] = {
       "in", "out", "entity", "architecture", "inout", "array",
       "is", "not", "and", "or", "bus", "bit", "line", // Etc...