diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/xml_util.js b/lib/ace/mode/xml_util.js
index cc3dffa0..a2cdea1b 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/xml_util.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/xml_util.js
@@ -34,34 +34,24 @@ define(function(require, exports, module) {
 function string(state) {
     return [{
         token : "string",
-        regex : '".*?"'
-    }, {
-        token : "string", // multi line string start
-        merge : true,
-        regex : '["].*',
+        regex : '"',
         next : state + "_qqstring"
     }, {
         token : "string",
-        regex : "'.*?'"
-    }, {
-        token : "string", // multi line string start
-        merge : true,
-        regex : "['].*",
+        regex : "'",
         next : state + "_qstring"
     }];
 }
 
 function multiLineString(quote, state) {
-    return [{
-        token : "string",
-        merge : true,
-        regex : ".*?" + quote,
-        next : state
-    }, {
-        token : "string",
-        merge : true,
-        regex : '.+'
-    }];
+    return [
+        {token : "string", regex : quote, next : state},
+        {
+            token : "constant.language.escape",
+            regex : "(?:&#[0-9]+;)|(?:&#x[0-9a-fA-F]+;)|(?:&[a-zA-Z0-9_:\\.-]+;)" 
+        },
+        {token : "string", merge : true, regex : '\\w+|.|\\s+'}
+    ];
 }
 
 exports.tag = function(states, name, nextState, tagMap) {