diff --git a/rules/lex.go b/rules/lex.go
index f5f9aa8..e869501 100644
--- a/rules/lex.go
+++ b/rules/lex.go
@@ -298,8 +298,6 @@ func lexTopLevel(l *lexer) lexerStateFun {
 		return lexSingleQuotedWord
 	case '`':
 		return lexBackQuotedWord
-		// case '[':
-		// 	return lexBracketedWord
 	}
 
 	return lexBareWord
@@ -317,25 +315,6 @@ func lexComment(l *lexer) lexerStateFun {
 	return lexTopLevel
 }
 
-// func lexBracketedWord(l *lexer) lexerStateFun {
-// 	l.skip() // '['
-// 	for l.peek() != ']' && l.peek() != eof {
-// 		l.acceptUntil("\\]")
-// 		if l.accept("\\") {
-// 			l.accept("]")
-// 		}
-// 	}
-//
-// 	if l.peek() == eof {
-// 		l.lexError("end of file encountered while parsing a bracketed string.")
-// 	}
-//
-// 	l.pushtmp()
-//
-// 	l.skip() // ']'
-// 	return lexBareWord
-// }
-
 func lexDoubleQuotedWord(l *lexer) lexerStateFun {
 	l.skip() // '"'
 	for l.peek() != '"' && l.peek() != eof {
@@ -356,11 +335,11 @@ func lexDoubleQuotedWord(l *lexer) lexerStateFun {
 }
 
 func lexBackQuotedWord(l *lexer) lexerStateFun {
-	l.skip() // '`'
+	l.next() // '`'
 	l.acceptUntil("`")
-	l.pushtmp()
-	l.skip() // '`'
-	return lexBareWord
+	l.next() // '`'
+	l.emit(tokenWord)
+	return lexTopLevel
 }
 
 func lexSingleQuotedWord(l *lexer) lexerStateFun {
diff --git a/rules/parse.go b/rules/parse.go
index 84aefcb..c84a6ee 100644
--- a/rules/parse.go
+++ b/rules/parse.go
@@ -282,6 +282,22 @@ func parseRecipe(p *parser, t token) parserStateFun {
 	// prereqs
 	base.prereqs = make([]string, 0)
 	for k := j + 1; k < len(p.tokenbuf); k++ {
+		// pretty hacky method to handle applying attributes to multiple prereqs at once with `prereqs`[attrs] syntax
+		if strings.HasPrefix(p.tokenbuf[k].val, "`") && strings.HasSuffix(p.tokenbuf[k].val, "`") {
+			length := len(p.tokenbuf[k].val)
+			inner := lex(p.tokenbuf[k].val[1:length-1], p.tokenbuf[k].line)
+			attrs := ""
+			if len(p.tokenbuf) > k+1 && strings.HasPrefix(p.tokenbuf[k+1].val, "[") {
+				attrs = p.tokenbuf[k+1].val
+			}
+			for t := inner.nextToken(); t.typ != tokenEnd; t = inner.nextToken() {
+				if t.typ == tokenError {
+					break
+				}
+				base.prereqs = append(base.prereqs, t.val+attrs)
+			}
+			continue
+		}
 		base.prereqs = append(base.prereqs, p.tokenbuf[k].val)
 	}