diff --git a/mode/php/php.js b/mode/php/php.js
index 57ba812d7268cb8a48b188fc9b039251dcf1a0d4..589c9a6639540da3a2bd9a0521475a167a6a3814 100644
--- a/mode/php/php.js
+++ b/mode/php/php.js
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
   };
 
   CodeMirror.defineMode("php", function(config, parserConfig) {
-    var htmlMode = CodeMirror.getMode(config, "text/html");
+    var htmlMode = CodeMirror.getMode(config, (parserConfig && parserConfig.htmlMode) || "text/html");
     var phpMode = CodeMirror.getMode(config, phpConfig);
 
     function dispatch(stream, state) {