diff --git a/src/sgfParser/__init__.py b/src/sgfParser/__init__.py
--- a/src/sgfParser/__init__.py
+++ b/src/sgfParser/__init__.py
@@ -4,23 +4,25 @@ def skipWhitespace(s,start):
 	return i
 
 
-def lineNumber(s,i):
+def strRowCol(s, i):
 	k=0
-	r=0
+	r,c=0,0
 	for (r,line) in enumerate(s.splitlines(True)):
-		k+=len(line)
-		if k>=i: break
-	return r+1
+		c=i-k
+		if k+len(line)>i:
+			break
+		else:
+			k+=len(line)
+	return (r+1, c+1)
 
 
 class ParserError(Exception):
-	def __init__(self,message,s,i):
-		# self.line=line
-		# self.col=col
-		# !! check for i<len(s)
-		print(message)
-		print(s[i:])
-		self.message=message
+	def __init__(self,msg,s,i):
+		self.msg=msg
+		self.row,self.col=strRowCol(s, i)
+
+	def __str__(self):
+		return "{0} at row {1}, col {2}".format(self.msg,self.row,self.col)
 
 
 class ParserWarning(ParserError):
diff --git a/src/sgfParser/collection.py b/src/sgfParser/collection.py
--- a/src/sgfParser/collection.py
+++ b/src/sgfParser/collection.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class GameTree:
 			if y: y.addChild(subroot)
 			i=skipWhitespace(s,i)
 		if i>=len(s) or s[i]!=")":
-			raise ParserError("expected end of the GameTree marked by ')'",s,i)
+			raise ParserError("expected end of a GameTree marked by ')'",s,i)
 		i=skipWhitespace(s,i+1)
 		return (i,res)
 
diff --git a/src/sgfParser/property.py b/src/sgfParser/property.py
--- a/src/sgfParser/property.py
+++ b/src/sgfParser/property.py
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ def compose(vTypeA,vTypeB):
 	def f(s,start):
 		i,a=vTypeA(s,start)
 		if i>=len(s) or s[i]!=":":
-			raise ParserError("a composed property value separated by ':' expected",s,i)
+			raise ParserError("expected a composed property value separated by ':'",s,i)
 		i,b=vTypeB(s,i+1)
 		return (i,Composed(a,b))
 	return f
diff --git a/src/tests/testSgfParser.py b/src/tests/testSgfParser.py
--- a/src/tests/testSgfParser.py
+++ b/src/tests/testSgfParser.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
+from itertools import chain
 import unittest
 from unittest import TestCase
 import os
 
+from sgfParser import strRowCol
 from sgfParser.collection import Collection
 from sgfParser.property import Property
 
@@ -9,6 +11,21 @@ from sgfParser.property import Property
 dataDir=os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "data")
 
 
+class TestUtils(TestCase):
+	def testTextPos(self):
+		s="abc\ndef\rgh\r\nij\n\rklmn"
+		rc=[
+			[1,2,3,4],
+			[1,2,3,4],
+			[1,2,3,4],
+			[1,2,3], [1], # don't care about LFCR, we unicode now
+			[1,2,3,4]
+		]
+		res=chain((r+1,c) for (r,row) in enumerate(rc) for c in row)
+		for (i,(r,c)) in zip(range(len(s)+1), res):
+			self.assertEqual(strRowCol(s, i), (r, c))
+
+
 class TestProperty(TestCase):
 	def testName(self):
 		with self.assertRaises(AssertionError):