diff --git a/lib/repl.js b/lib/repl.js
index b10427a16fa..af0d422a449 100644
--- a/lib/repl.js
+++ b/lib/repl.js
@@ -267,18 +267,6 @@ function REPLServer(prompt, stream, eval_, useGlobal, ignoreUndefined) {
       finish(null);
     }
 
-    function isSyntaxError(e) {
-      // Convert error to string
-      e = e && (e.stack || e.toString());
-      return e && e.match(/^SyntaxError/) &&
-             // RegExp syntax error
-             !e.match(/^SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression/) &&
-             !e.match(/^SyntaxError: Invalid flags supplied to RegExp constructor/) &&
-             // JSON.parse() error
-             !(e.match(/^SyntaxError: Unexpected (token .*|end of input)/) &&
-             e.match(/\n    at Object.parse \(native\)\n/));
-    }
-
     function finish(e, ret) {
 
       self.memory(cmd);
@@ -918,3 +906,21 @@ REPLServer.prototype.convertToContext = function(cmd) {
 
   return cmd;
 };
+
+
+/**
+ * Returns `true` if "e" is a SyntaxError, `false` otherwise.
+ * This function filters out false positives likes JSON.parse() errors and
+ * RegExp syntax errors.
+ */
+function isSyntaxError(e) {
+  // Convert error to string
+  e = e && (e.stack || e.toString());
+  return e && e.match(/^SyntaxError/) &&
+      // RegExp syntax error
+      !e.match(/^SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression/) &&
+      !e.match(/^SyntaxError: Invalid flags supplied to RegExp constructor/) &&
+      // JSON.parse() error
+      !(e.match(/^SyntaxError: Unexpected (token .*|end of input)/) &&
+      e.match(/\n    at Object.parse \(native\)\n/));
+}