diff --git a/ghc/lib/required/Prelude.lhs b/ghc/lib/required/Prelude.lhs
index ce24d7568f0110055a9ea3795d8cca45d3f98f3b..7556c0a976e6de73ed2a74a53c0fb2cb4d6b5c9b 100644
--- a/ghc/lib/required/Prelude.lhs
+++ b/ghc/lib/required/Prelude.lhs
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
+We add the option -fno-implicit-prelude here to tell the reader that
+special names such as () and -> shouldn't be resolved to Prelude.()
+and Prelude.-> (as they are normally). -- SDM 8/10/97
 
 \begin{code}
+{-# OPTIONS -fno-implicit-prelude #-}
+
 module Prelude (
 
 	-- Everything from these modules