diff --git a/spacy/syntax/_state.pxd b/spacy/syntax/_state.pxd
index 96bd727fa..388c8133e 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/_state.pxd
+++ b/spacy/syntax/_state.pxd
@@ -189,7 +189,9 @@ cdef cppclass StateC:
             return False
         elif this._sent[this.B_(0).l_edge].sent_start < 0:
             return False
-        elif this.stack_depth() < 1: # ?? I guess stops first action break?
+        # We only want to break when the 'root' word is on the stack, so that
+        # we can add the label.
+        elif this.stack_depth() != 1: 
             return False
         elif this.at_break():
             return False