diff --git a/prepro.py b/prepro.py
index c08c7c9..1decc25 100644
--- a/prepro.py
+++ b/prepro.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ def prepro(hp):
     logging.info("# Preprocessing")
     # train
     _prepro = lambda x:  [line.strip() for line in open(x, 'r').read().split("\n") \
-                      if not line.startswith("<")]
+                      if not (line.startswith("<") or line.startswith(" <"))]
     prepro_train1, prepro_train2 = _prepro(train1), _prepro(train2)
     assert len(prepro_train1)==len(prepro_train2), "Check if train source and target files match."
 
@@ -109,4 +109,4 @@ def _segment_and_write(sents, fname):
     parser = hparams.parser
     hp = parser.parse_args()
     prepro(hp)
-    logging.info("Done")
\ No newline at end of file
+    logging.info("Done")