diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/completion/engine.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/completion/engine.rs
index eb9a77713..0f4b1b8dc 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/completion/engine.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/completion/engine.rs
@@ -270,8 +270,13 @@ mod tests {
             registry: &dyn SignatureRegistry,
             pos: usize,
         ) -> Vec<LocationType> {
-            let lite_block = lite_parse(line, 0).expect("lite_parse");
+            let lite_block = match lite_parse(line, 0) {
+                Ok(v) => v,
+                Err(e) => e.partial.expect("lite_parse result"),
+            };
+
             let block = classify_block(&lite_block, registry);
+
             super::completion_location(line, &block.block, pos)
                 .into_iter()
                 .map(|v| v.item)
@@ -338,6 +343,17 @@ mod tests {
             );
         }
 
+        #[test]
+        fn completes_incomplete_nested_structure() {
+            let registry: VecRegistry = vec![Signature::build("sys")].into();
+            let line = "echo $(sy";
+
+            assert_eq!(
+                completion_location(line, &registry, 8),
+                vec![LocationType::Command],
+            );
+        }
+
         #[test]
         fn completes_flags_with_just_a_single_hyphen() {
             let registry: VecRegistry = vec![Signature::build("du")
diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/lite_parse.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/lite_parse.rs
index 4c7e4c4cb..58145d884 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/lite_parse.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/lite_parse.rs
@@ -56,12 +56,23 @@ fn skip_whitespace(src: &mut Input) {
     }
 }
 
+#[derive(Clone, Copy)]
 enum BlockKind {
     Paren,
     CurlyBracket,
     SquareBracket,
 }
 
+impl From<BlockKind> for char {
+    fn from(bk: BlockKind) -> char {
+        match bk {
+            BlockKind::Paren => ')',
+            BlockKind::SquareBracket => ']',
+            BlockKind::CurlyBracket => '}',
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 fn bare(src: &mut Input, span_offset: usize) -> ParseResult<Spanned<String>> {
     skip_whitespace(src);
 
@@ -114,15 +125,15 @@ fn bare(src: &mut Input, span_offset: usize) -> ParseResult<Spanned<String>> {
     );
 
     if let Some(block) = block_level.last() {
+        let delim: char = (*block).into();
+        let cause = nu_errors::ParseError::unexpected_eof(delim.to_string(), span);
+
+        while let Some(bk) = block_level.pop() {
+            bare.push(bk.into());
+        }
+
         return Err(ParseError {
-            cause: nu_errors::ParseError::unexpected_eof(
-                match block {
-                    BlockKind::Paren => ")",
-                    BlockKind::SquareBracket => "]",
-                    BlockKind::CurlyBracket => "}",
-                },
-                span,
-            ),
+            cause,
             partial: Some(bare.spanned(span)),
         });
     }