diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Loader/YamlFileLoader.php b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Loader/YamlFileLoader.php
index 06cc506e670c..cffe00c750f7 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Loader/YamlFileLoader.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Loader/YamlFileLoader.php
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ private function parseDefinition($id, $service, $file)
 
             foreach ($service['tags'] as $tag) {
                 if (!is_array($tag)) {
-                    throw new InvalidArgumentException(sprintf('A "tags" entry must be an array for service "%s" in %s. Check your YAML syntax.', $id, $file));
+                    $tag = array('name' => $tag);
                 }
 
                 if (!isset($tag['name'])) {
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Fixtures/yaml/badtag4.yml b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Fixtures/yaml/badtag4.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index e8e99395b1fd..000000000000
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Fixtures/yaml/badtag4.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-services:
-    foo_service:
-        class:    FooClass
-        tags:
-          # tag is not an array
-          - foo
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Fixtures/yaml/tag_name_only.yml b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Fixtures/yaml/tag_name_only.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..90180b0bb936
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Fixtures/yaml/tag_name_only.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+services:
+    foo_service:
+        class: FooClass
+        tags:
+          - foo
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Loader/YamlFileLoaderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Loader/YamlFileLoaderTest.php
index fabaa4859c57..89c2e4bf88a1 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Loader/YamlFileLoaderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Tests/Loader/YamlFileLoaderTest.php
@@ -223,16 +223,6 @@ public function testNonArrayTagsThrowsException()
         }
     }
 
-    /**
-     * @expectedException \Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Exception\InvalidArgumentException
-     * @expectedExceptionMessage A "tags" entry must be an array for service
-     */
-    public function testNonArrayTagThrowsException()
-    {
-        $loader = new YamlFileLoader(new ContainerBuilder(), new FileLocator(self::$fixturesPath.'/yaml'));
-        $loader->load('badtag4.yml');
-    }
-
     public function testTagWithoutNameThrowsException()
     {
         $loader = new YamlFileLoader(new ContainerBuilder(), new FileLocator(self::$fixturesPath.'/yaml'));
@@ -245,6 +235,15 @@ public function testTagWithoutNameThrowsException()
         }
     }
 
+    public function testNameOnlyTagsAreAllowedAsString()
+    {
+        $container = new ContainerBuilder();
+        $loader = new YamlFileLoader($container, new FileLocator(self::$fixturesPath.'/yaml'));
+        $loader->load('tag_name_only.yml');
+
+        $this->assertCount(1, $container->getDefinition('foo_service')->getTag('foo'));
+    }
+
     public function testTagWithAttributeArrayThrowsException()
     {
         $loader = new YamlFileLoader(new ContainerBuilder(), new FileLocator(self::$fixturesPath.'/yaml'));