diff --git a/src/lambda_repl/grammar.lark b/src/lambda_repl/grammar.lark
index d430094..d898da0 100644
--- a/src/lambda_repl/grammar.lark
+++ b/src/lambda_repl/grammar.lark
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ VARIABLE: /[^\s().λ\\]+/
 
 abstraction: ("\\" | "λ") VARIABLE "." term
 
-application: ( abstraction | VARIABLE | brackets ) ( _WHITESPACE ( abstraction | VARIABLE | brackets ) )+
+application: _application_term _WHITESPACE (abstraction | _simple_term)
 
-?brackets: "(" term ")"
+?term: abstraction | _application_term
 
-?term: abstraction | application | VARIABLE | brackets
\ No newline at end of file
+_application_term: application | _simple_term
+
+_simple_term: VARIABLE | "(" term ")"
diff --git a/src/lambda_repl/parsing.py b/src/lambda_repl/parsing.py
index 4f8ab12..5002b71 100644
--- a/src/lambda_repl/parsing.py
+++ b/src/lambda_repl/parsing.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 from collections import deque
-from collections.abc import Iterator, Sequence
+from collections.abc import Iterator
 from itertools import chain
 from lambda_calculus.terms import Abstraction, Application, Term, Variable
 from lark import Lark, Token
@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ def __default__(self, data: object, children: object, meta: object) -> Term[str]
         """handle unknown nodes"""
         raise UnexpectedInput(f"unknown node: {data}")
 
+    def __default_token__(self, token: Token) -> Token:
+        """handle unknown tokens"""
+        raise UnexpectedInput(f"unknown token: {token}")
+
     def VARIABLE(self, name: Token) -> Variable[str]:
         """transform a variable node"""
         return Variable(name.value)
@@ -72,9 +76,10 @@ def abstraction(self, variable: Variable[str], body: Term[str]) -> Abstraction[s
         """transform an abstraction"""
         return Abstraction(variable.name, body)
 
-    def application(self, children: Sequence[Term[str]]) -> Application[str]:
+    @v_args(inline=True)
+    def application(self, abstraction: Term[str], argument: Term[str]) -> Application[str]:
         """transform an application"""
-        return Application.with_arguments(children[0], children[1:])
+        return Application(abstraction, argument)
 
 
 PARSER = Lark.open_from_package(
diff --git a/tests/test_parsing.py b/tests/test_parsing.py
index c23283d..d706995 100644
--- a/tests/test_parsing.py
+++ b/tests/test_parsing.py
@@ -73,6 +73,10 @@ def test_abstraction(self) -> None:
                 .apply_to(Variable("b"), Variable("c"))
                 .abstract("a", "b")
         )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            self.transformer.transform_string("a λa.a b c"),
+            Variable("a").apply_to(Variable("a").apply_to(Variable("b"), Variable("c")).abstract("a"))
+        )
 
     def test_brackets(self) -> None:
         """test bracket parsing"""