diff --git a/guardrails/run.py b/guardrails/run.py
index 0d133e4c4..0509563b0 100644
--- a/guardrails/run.py
+++ b/guardrails/run.py
@@ -1380,13 +1380,15 @@ def parse(
                 output, stream=True, verified=verified
             )
 
-            # Error can be either of (True/False/None/string representing error)
+            # Error can be either of
+            # (True/False/None/ValueError/string representing error)
             if error:
                 # If parsing error is a string,
                 # it is an error from output_schema.parse_fragment()
                 if isinstance(error, str):
                     raise ValueError("Unable to parse output: " + error)
-            # Else if either of (None/True/False), return parsed_output and error
+            # Else if either of
+            # (None/True/False/ValueError), return parsed_output and error
 
             action.log(
                 message_type="info",
diff --git a/guardrails/schema/string_schema.py b/guardrails/schema/string_schema.py
index a90b6cc62..cde8a8b0f 100644
--- a/guardrails/schema/string_schema.py
+++ b/guardrails/schema/string_schema.py
@@ -123,7 +123,9 @@ def get_reask_setup(
         return self, prompt, instructions
 
     def parse(self, output: str, **kwargs) -> Tuple[Any, Optional[Exception]]:
-        return output, None
+        # Return a ValueError if the output is empty, else None
+        error = ValueError("Empty response received.") if not output else None
+        return output, error
 
     def validate(
         self,