diff --git a/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pxd b/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pxd
index 5fd3b5c5f..14a0d7741 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pxd
+++ b/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pxd
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@ from cymem.cymem cimport Pool
 
 from ..typedefs cimport attr_t, weight_t
 from ..structs cimport TokenC
-from ..gold cimport GoldParse
-from ..gold cimport GoldParseC
 from ..strings cimport StringStore
 from .stateclass cimport StateClass
 from ._state cimport StateC
@@ -17,14 +15,14 @@ cdef struct Transition:
     weight_t score
 
     bint (*is_valid)(const StateC* state, attr_t label) nogil
-    weight_t (*get_cost)(StateClass state, const GoldParseC* gold, attr_t label) nogil
+    weight_t (*get_cost)(StateClass state, const void* gold, attr_t label) nogil
     int (*do)(StateC* state, attr_t label) nogil
 
 
-ctypedef weight_t (*get_cost_func_t)(StateClass state, const GoldParseC* gold,
+ctypedef weight_t (*get_cost_func_t)(StateClass state, const void* gold,
         attr_tlabel) nogil
-ctypedef weight_t (*move_cost_func_t)(StateClass state, const GoldParseC* gold) nogil
-ctypedef weight_t (*label_cost_func_t)(StateClass state, const GoldParseC*
+ctypedef weight_t (*move_cost_func_t)(StateClass state, const void* gold) nogil
+ctypedef weight_t (*label_cost_func_t)(StateClass state, const void*
         gold, attr_t label) nogil
 
 ctypedef int (*do_func_t)(StateC* state, attr_t label) nogil
@@ -55,4 +53,4 @@ cdef class TransitionSystem:
     cdef int set_valid(self, int* output, const StateC* st) nogil
 
     cdef int set_costs(self, int* is_valid, weight_t* costs,
-                       StateClass state, GoldParse gold) except -1
+                       StateClass state, NewExample example) except -1
diff --git a/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pyx b/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pyx
index 78017c84a..10bbbc56b 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pyx
+++ b/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pyx
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ cdef class TransitionSystem:
             beams.append(beam)
         return beams
 
-    def get_oracle_sequence(self, doc, GoldParse gold):
+    def get_oracle_sequence(self, NewExample example):
         cdef Pool mem = Pool()
         # n_moves should not be zero at this point, but make sure to avoid zero-length mem alloc
         assert self.n_moves > 0
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ cdef class TransitionSystem:
         self.initialize_state(state.c)
         history = []
         while not state.is_final():
-            self.set_costs(is_valid, costs, state, gold)
+            self.set_costs(is_valid, costs, state, example)
             for i in range(self.n_moves):
                 if is_valid[i] and costs[i] <= 0:
                     action = self.c[i]
@@ -124,10 +124,10 @@ cdef class TransitionSystem:
     def finalize_doc(self, doc):
         pass
 
-    def preprocess_gold(self, GoldParse gold):
+    def preprocess_gold(self, gold):
         raise NotImplementedError
 
-    def is_gold_parse(self, StateClass state, GoldParse gold):
+    def is_gold_parse(self, StateClass state, example):
         raise NotImplementedError
 
     cdef Transition lookup_transition(self, object name) except *:
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ cdef class TransitionSystem:
             is_valid[i] = self.c[i].is_valid(st, self.c[i].label)
 
     cdef int set_costs(self, int* is_valid, weight_t* costs,
-                       StateClass stcls, GoldParse gold) except -1:
+                       StateClass stcls, NewExample example) except -1:
         cdef int i
         self.set_valid(is_valid, stcls.c)
         cdef int n_gold = 0