diff --git a/gg/decoder.go b/gg/decoder.go
index 4e21ceb..46a6189 100644
--- a/gg/decoder.go
+++ b/gg/decoder.go
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ const (
 )
 
 func decoderErr(tok LexerToken, err error) error {
-	return fmt.Errorf("%d:%d: %w", tok.Row, tok.Col, err)
+	return fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", tok.errPrefix(), err)
 }
 
 func decoderErrf(tok LexerToken, str string, args ...interface{}) error {
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func (d *decoder) parseSingleValue(
 	tok, rest := toks[0], toks[1:]
 
 	if len(rest) == 0 {
-		return Value{}, nil, false, decoderErrf(tok, "cannot be final token, possibly missing %q", punctTerm)
+		return ZeroValue, nil, false, decoderErrf(tok, "cannot be final token, possibly missing %q", punctTerm)
 	}
 
 	termed := isTerm(rest[0])
@@ -65,20 +65,20 @@ func (d *decoder) parseSingleValue(
 	switch tok.Kind {
 
 	case LexerTokenKindName:
-		return Value{Name: &tok.Value}, rest, termed, nil
+		return Value{Name: &tok.Value, LexerToken: &tok}, rest, termed, nil
 
 	case LexerTokenKindNumber:
 
 		i, err := strconv.ParseInt(tok.Value, 10, 64)
 
 		if err != nil {
-			return Value{}, nil, false, decoderErrf(tok, "parsing %q as integer: %w", tok.Value, err)
+			return ZeroValue, nil, false, decoderErrf(tok, "parsing %q as integer: %w", tok.Value, err)
 		}
 
-		return Value{Number: &i}, rest, termed, nil
+		return Value{Number: &i, LexerToken: &tok}, rest, termed, nil
 
 	case LexerTokenKindPunctuation:
-		return Value{}, nil, false, decoderErrf(tok, "expected value, found punctuation %q", tok.Value)
+		return ZeroValue, nil, false, decoderErrf(tok, "expected value, found punctuation %q", tok.Value)
 
 	default:
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unexpected token kind %q", tok.Kind))
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ func (d *decoder) parseOpenEdge(
 	}
 
 	if termed {
-		return ValueOut(val, Value{}), toks, nil
+		return ValueOut(val, ZeroValue), toks, nil
 	}
 
 	opTok, toks := toks[0], toks[1:]
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func (d *decoder) parseTuple(
 		toks = toks[1:]
 	}
 
-	return TupleOut(edges, Value{}), toks, nil
+	return TupleOut(edges, ZeroValue), toks, nil
 }
 
 // returned boolean value indicates if the token following the graph is a term.
@@ -211,18 +211,18 @@ func (d *decoder) parseGraphValue(
 				break
 			}
 
-			return Value{}, nil, false, decoderErrf(openTok, "no matching %q", punctCloseGraph)
+			return ZeroValue, nil, false, decoderErrf(openTok, "no matching %q", punctCloseGraph)
 
 		} else if closingTok := toks[0]; isPunct(closingTok, punctCloseGraph) {
 
 			if !expectWrappers {
-				return Value{}, nil, false, decoderErrf(closingTok, "unexpected %q", punctCloseGraph)
+				return ZeroValue, nil, false, decoderErrf(closingTok, "unexpected %q", punctCloseGraph)
 			}
 
 			toks = toks[1:]
 
 			if len(toks) == 0 {
-				return Value{}, nil, false, decoderErrf(closingTok, "cannot be final token, possibly missing %q", punctTerm)
+				return ZeroValue, nil, false, decoderErrf(closingTok, "cannot be final token, possibly missing %q", punctTerm)
 			}
 
 			break
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ func (d *decoder) parseGraphValue(
 		var err error
 
 		if g, toks, err = d.parseValIn(g, toks); err != nil {
-			return Value{}, nil, false, err
+			return ZeroValue, nil, false, err
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -241,6 +241,8 @@ func (d *decoder) parseGraphValue(
 		return val, toks, true, nil
 	}
 
+	val.LexerToken = &openTok
+
 	termed := isTerm(toks[0])
 
 	if termed {
@@ -276,7 +278,7 @@ func (d *decoder) parseValIn(into *Graph, toks []LexerToken) (*Graph, []LexerTok
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
 
-	dstVal := Value{Name: &dst.Value}
+	dstVal := Value{Name: &dst.Value, LexerToken: &dst}
 
 	return into.AddValueIn(oe, dstVal), toks, nil
 }
diff --git a/gg/decoder_test.go b/gg/decoder_test.go
index 9876436..e3212cb 100644
--- a/gg/decoder_test.go
+++ b/gg/decoder_test.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 		{
 			in:  "out = 1;",
-			exp: ZeroGraph.AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), Value{}), n("out")),
+			exp: ZeroGraph.AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), ZeroValue), n("out")),
 		},
 		{
 			in:  "out = incr < 1;",
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 				TupleOut(
 					[]OpenEdge{TupleOut(
 						[]OpenEdge{
-							ValueOut(i(1), Value{}),
+							ValueOut(i(1), ZeroValue),
 							ValueOut(i(2), n("c")),
 							TupleOut(
 								[]OpenEdge{ValueOut(i(3), n("e"))},
@@ -69,11 +69,11 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 				TupleOut(
 					[]OpenEdge{TupleOut(
 						[]OpenEdge{
-							ValueOut(i(1), Value{}),
+							ValueOut(i(1), ZeroValue),
 							TupleOut(
 								[]OpenEdge{
 									ValueOut(i(2), n("d")),
-									ValueOut(i(3), Value{}),
+									ValueOut(i(3), ZeroValue),
 								},
 								n("c"),
 							),
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 			exp: ZeroGraph.AddValueIn(
 				ValueOut(
 					Value{Graph: ZeroGraph.
-						AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), Value{}), n("a")).
+						AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), ZeroValue), n("a")).
 						AddValueIn(
 							TupleOut(
 								[]OpenEdge{
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 							n("b"),
 						),
 					},
-					Value{},
+					ZeroValue,
 				),
 				n("out"),
 			),
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 						ValueOut(
 							i(2),
 							Value{Graph: ZeroGraph.
-								AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), Value{}), n("b")),
+								AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), ZeroValue), n("b")),
 							},
 						),
 					},
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			in: "a = 1; b = 2;",
 			exp: ZeroGraph.
-				AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), Value{}), n("a")).
-				AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(2), Value{}), n("b")),
+				AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), ZeroValue), n("a")).
+				AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(2), ZeroValue), n("b")),
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/gg/gg.go b/gg/gg.go
index 78620e7..3e55399 100644
--- a/gg/gg.go
+++ b/gg/gg.go
@@ -6,22 +6,37 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 )
 
-// Value represents a value being stored in a Graph. No more than one field may
-// be non-nil. No fields being set indicates lack of value.
+// ZeroValue is a Value with no fields set.
+var ZeroValue Value
+
+// Value represents a value being stored in a Graph.
 type Value struct {
+
+	// Only one of these fields may be set
 	Name   *string
 	Number *int64
 	Graph  *Graph
 
 	// TODO coming soon!
 	// String *string
+
+	// Optional fields indicating the token which was used to construct this
+	// Value, if any.
+	LexerToken *LexerToken
+}
+
+// IsZero returns true if the Value is the zero value (none of the sub-value
+// fields are set). LexerToken is ignored for this check.
+func (v Value) IsZero() bool {
+	v.LexerToken = nil
+	return v == Value{}
 }
 
 // Equal returns true if the passed in Value is equivalent.
 func (v Value) Equal(v2 Value) bool {
 	switch {
 
-	case v == Value{} && v2 == Value{}:
+	case v.IsZero() && v2.IsZero():
 		return true
 
 	case v.Name != nil && v2.Name != nil && *v.Name == *v2.Name:
@@ -42,8 +57,8 @@ func (v Value) String() string {
 
 	switch {
 
-	case v == Value{}:
-		return "<noval>"
+	case v.IsZero():
+		return "<zero>"
 
 	case v.Name != nil:
 		return *v.Name
@@ -105,24 +120,24 @@ func ValueOut(val, edgeVal Value) OpenEdge {
 // represents an edge (with edgeVal attached to it) coming from the
 // TupleVertex comprised of the given ordered-set of input edges.
 //
-// If len(ins) == 1 and edgeVal == Value{}, then that single OpenEdge is
+// If len(ins) == 1 && edgeVal.IsZero(), then that single OpenEdge is
 // returned as-is.
 func TupleOut(ins []OpenEdge, edgeVal Value) OpenEdge {
 
 	if len(ins) == 1 {
 
-		if edgeVal == (Value{}) {
+		if edgeVal.IsZero() {
 			return ins[0]
 		}
 
-		if ins[0].val == (Value{}) {
+		if ins[0].val.IsZero() {
 			return ins[0].WithEdgeVal(edgeVal)
 		}
 
 	}
 
 	return OpenEdge{
-		fromV: mkVertex(TupleVertex, Value{}, ins...),
+		fromV: mkVertex(TupleVertex, ZeroValue, ins...),
 		val:   edgeVal,
 	}
 }
diff --git a/gg/gg_test.go b/gg/gg_test.go
index 32d2d67..069c0e4 100644
--- a/gg/gg_test.go
+++ b/gg/gg_test.go
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func TestEqual(t *testing.T) {
 			// equivalent to just that edge.
 			a: ZeroGraph.AddValueIn(TupleOut([]OpenEdge{
 				ValueOut(i(1), n("ident")),
-			}, Value{}), n("out")),
+			}, ZeroValue), n("out")),
 			b:   ZeroGraph.AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), n("ident")), n("out")),
 			exp: true,
 		},
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func TestEqual(t *testing.T) {
 			// edgeVal should be equivalent to just that edge with the tuple's
 			// edge value.
 			a: ZeroGraph.AddValueIn(TupleOut([]OpenEdge{
-				ValueOut(i(1), Value{}),
+				ValueOut(i(1), ZeroValue),
 			}, n("ident")), n("out")),
 			b:   ZeroGraph.AddValueIn(ValueOut(i(1), n("ident")), n("out")),
 			exp: true,
diff --git a/gg/lexer.go b/gg/lexer.go
index 12e10ed..8acbdbc 100644
--- a/gg/lexer.go
+++ b/gg/lexer.go
@@ -8,15 +8,26 @@ import (
 	"unicode"
 )
 
-// LexerError is returned by Lexer when an unexpected error occurs parsing a
-// stream of LexerTokens.
-type LexerError struct {
-	Err      error
+// LexerLocation describes the location in a file where a particular token was
+// parsed from.
+type LexerLocation struct {
 	Row, Col int
 }
 
+func (l LexerLocation) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%d:%d", l.Row, l.Col)
+}
+
+// LexerError is returned by Lexer when an unexpected error occurs parsing a
+// stream of LexerTokens.
+type LexerError struct {
+	Err error
+
+	Location LexerLocation
+}
+
 func (e *LexerError) Error() string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%d:%d: %s", e.Row, e.Col, e.Err.Error())
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s: %s", e.Location.String(), e.Err.Error())
 }
 
 func (e *LexerError) Unwrap() error {
@@ -39,7 +50,11 @@ type LexerToken struct {
 	Kind  LexerTokenKind
 	Value string // never empty string
 
-	Row, Col int
+	Location LexerLocation
+}
+
+func (t LexerToken) errPrefix() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s: at %q", t.Location.String(), t.Value)
 }
 
 // Lexer is used to parse a string stream into a sequence of tokens which can
@@ -90,8 +105,10 @@ func (l *lexer) fmtErr(err error) *LexerError {
 
 	return &LexerError{
 		Err: err,
-		Row: row,
-		Col: col,
+		Location: LexerLocation{
+			Row: row,
+			Col: col,
+		},
 	}
 }
 
@@ -167,7 +184,9 @@ func (l *lexer) readWhile(
 	return LexerToken{
 		Kind:  kind,
 		Value: l.stringBuilder.String(),
-		Row:   row, Col: col,
+		Location: LexerLocation{
+			Row: row, Col: col,
+		},
 	}, lexErr
 }
 
@@ -236,8 +255,10 @@ func (l *lexer) next() (LexerToken, *LexerError) {
 			return LexerToken{
 				Kind:  LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
 				Value: string(r),
-				Row:   l.lastRow,
-				Col:   l.lastCol,
+				Location: LexerLocation{
+					Row: l.lastRow,
+					Col: l.lastCol,
+				},
 			}, nil
 
 		case unicode.IsSpace(r):
diff --git a/gg/lexer_test.go b/gg/lexer_test.go
index 91e743e..038dba0 100644
--- a/gg/lexer_test.go
+++ b/gg/lexer_test.go
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ func TestLexer(t *testing.T) {
 			in: "foo",
 			exp: []LexerToken{
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindName,
-					Value: "foo",
-					Row:   0, Col: 0,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindName,
+					Value:    "foo",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 0},
 				},
 			},
 		},
@@ -33,29 +33,29 @@ func TestLexer(t *testing.T) {
 			in: "foo bar\nf-o f0O Foo",
 			exp: []LexerToken{
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindName,
-					Value: "foo",
-					Row:   0, Col: 0,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindName,
+					Value:    "foo",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 0},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindName,
-					Value: "bar",
-					Row:   0, Col: 4,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindName,
+					Value:    "bar",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 4},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindName,
-					Value: "f-o",
-					Row:   1, Col: 0,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindName,
+					Value:    "f-o",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 1, Col: 0},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindName,
-					Value: "f0O",
-					Row:   1, Col: 4,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindName,
+					Value:    "f0O",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 1, Col: 4},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindName,
-					Value: "Foo",
-					Row:   1, Col: 8,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindName,
+					Value:    "Foo",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 1, Col: 8},
 				},
 			},
 		},
@@ -63,19 +63,19 @@ func TestLexer(t *testing.T) {
 			in: "1 100 -100",
 			exp: []LexerToken{
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindNumber,
-					Value: "1",
-					Row:   0, Col: 0,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindNumber,
+					Value:    "1",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 0},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindNumber,
-					Value: "100",
-					Row:   0, Col: 2,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindNumber,
+					Value:    "100",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 2},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindNumber,
-					Value: "-100",
-					Row:   0, Col: 6,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindNumber,
+					Value:    "-100",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 6},
 				},
 			},
 		},
@@ -83,39 +83,39 @@ func TestLexer(t *testing.T) {
 			in: "1<2!-3 ()",
 			exp: []LexerToken{
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindNumber,
-					Value: "1",
-					Row:   0, Col: 0,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindNumber,
+					Value:    "1",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 0},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
-					Value: "<",
-					Row:   0, Col: 1,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
+					Value:    "<",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 1},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindNumber,
-					Value: "2",
-					Row:   0, Col: 2,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindNumber,
+					Value:    "2",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 2},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
-					Value: "!",
-					Row:   0, Col: 3,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
+					Value:    "!",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 3},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindNumber,
-					Value: "-3",
-					Row:   0, Col: 4,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindNumber,
+					Value:    "-3",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 4},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
-					Value: "(",
-					Row:   0, Col: 7,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
+					Value:    "(",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 7},
 				},
 				{
-					Kind:  LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
-					Value: ")",
-					Row:   0, Col: 8,
+					Kind:     LexerTokenKindPunctuation,
+					Value:    ")",
+					Location: LexerLocation{Row: 0, Col: 8},
 				},
 			},
 		},
@@ -142,8 +142,8 @@ func TestLexer(t *testing.T) {
 			inParts := strings.Split(test.in, "\n")
 
 			assert.ErrorIs(t, lexErr, expErr)
-			assert.Equal(t, lexErr.Row, len(inParts)-1)
-			assert.Equal(t, lexErr.Col, len(inParts[len(inParts)-1]))
+			assert.Equal(t, lexErr.Location.Row, len(inParts)-1)
+			assert.Equal(t, lexErr.Location.Col, len(inParts[len(inParts)-1]))
 		})
 	}