diff --git a/plugins/org.eclipse.xtext/src/org/eclipse/xtext/resource/EObjectAtOffsetHelper.java b/plugins/org.eclipse.xtext/src/org/eclipse/xtext/resource/EObjectAtOffsetHelper.java
index 07bd52c2a..bcb9d38d1 100644
--- a/plugins/org.eclipse.xtext/src/org/eclipse/xtext/resource/EObjectAtOffsetHelper.java
+++ b/plugins/org.eclipse.xtext/src/org/eclipse/xtext/resource/EObjectAtOffsetHelper.java
@@ -29,12 +29,20 @@ import org.eclipse.xtext.util.TextRegion;
 public class EObjectAtOffsetHelper {
 
 	/**
-	 * @return the contained element next to the offset
+	 * @return the declared or the referenced element next to the offset
 	 */
 	public EObject resolveElementAt(XtextResource resource, int offset) {
-		return internalResolveElementAt(resource, offset, true);
+		return internalResolveElementAt(resource, offset, false);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @return the declared element next to the offset
+	 * @since 2.3
+	 */
+	public EObject resolveContainedElementAt(XtextResource resource, int offset) {
+		return internalResolveElementAt(resource, offset, true);
+	}
+	
 	/**
 	 * @return the cross referenced EObject under, right or left to the cursor (in that order) or
 	 *         <code>null</code> if there is no cross referenced object next to the offset.
@@ -107,11 +115,11 @@ public class EObjectAtOffsetHelper {
 	}
 
 	protected EObject internalResolveElementAt(XtextResource resource, int offset, boolean containment) {
-		if(!containment){
+		if(!containment) {
 			EObject crossRef = resolveCrossReferencedElementAt(resource, offset);
 			if (crossRef != null)
 				return crossRef;
-			}
+		}
 		IParseResult parseResult = resource.getParseResult();
 		if (parseResult != null && parseResult.getRootNode() != null) {
 			ILeafNode leaf = NodeModelUtils.findLeafNodeAtOffset(parseResult.getRootNode(), offset);
diff --git a/tests/org.eclipse.xtext.tests/src/org/eclipse/xtext/resource/EObjectAtOffsetTest.java b/tests/org.eclipse.xtext.tests/src/org/eclipse/xtext/resource/EObjectAtOffsetTest.java
index 4ee9d9071..800a9210e 100644
--- a/tests/org.eclipse.xtext.tests/src/org/eclipse/xtext/resource/EObjectAtOffsetTest.java
+++ b/tests/org.eclipse.xtext.tests/src/org/eclipse/xtext/resource/EObjectAtOffsetTest.java
@@ -46,9 +46,9 @@ public class EObjectAtOffsetTest extends AbstractXtextTests {
 		String modelAsString = "foo foo0 bar bar0 foo0 bar bar1 foo0";
 		XtextResource resource = getResourceFromString(modelAsString);
 		Model model = (Model) resource.getContents().get(0);
-		checkContainedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foo foo0 ", model.getFoos().get(0));
-		checkContainedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "bar bar0 ", model.getBars().get(0));
-		checkContainedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "bar bar1 ", model.getBars().get(1));
+		checkContainedOrReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foo foo0 ", model.getFoos().get(0));
+		checkContainedOrReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "bar bar0 ", model.getBars().get(0));
+		checkContainedOrReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "bar bar1 ", model.getBars().get(1));
 	}
 
 	@Test public void testCrossRefs_01() throws Exception {
@@ -107,20 +107,20 @@ public class EObjectAtOffsetTest extends AbstractXtextTests {
 		String modelAsString = "bar bar0 foo0 foobar foo1 foo foo0 foo foo1";
 		XtextResource resource = getResourceFromString(modelAsString);
 		Model model = (Model) resource.getContents().get(0);
-		checkContainedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foobar ", model.getBars().get(0));
+		checkContainedOrReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foobar ", model.getBars().get(0));
 		checkCrossReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foo0 ", model.getFoos().get(0));
 		checkCrossReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foo1 ", model.getFoos().get(1));
-		checkContainedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "bar bar0 ", ((FooBar) model.getBars().get(0)).getBar());
+		checkContainedOrReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "bar bar0 ", ((FooBar) model.getBars().get(0)).getBar());
 	}
 	
 	@Test public void testAction_02() throws Exception {
 		String modelAsString = "zonk 1 bar bar0 foo0 foobar foo1 foo foo0 foo foo1";
 		XtextResource resource = getResourceFromString(modelAsString);
 		Model model = (Model) resource.getContents().get(0);
-		checkContainedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foobar ", model.getBars().get(0));
+		checkContainedOrReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foobar ", model.getBars().get(0));
 		checkCrossReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foo0 ", model.getFoos().get(0));
 		checkCrossReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "foo1 ", model.getFoos().get(1));
-		checkContainedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "bar bar0 ", ((FooBar) model.getBars().get(0)).getBar());
+		checkContainedOrReferencedElementAt(resource, modelAsString, "bar bar0 ", ((FooBar) model.getBars().get(0)).getBar());
 	}
 	
 	@Test public void testFindCrossReferencedElementAt() throws Exception {
@@ -169,20 +169,23 @@ public class EObjectAtOffsetTest extends AbstractXtextTests {
 		assertNull(eObjectAtOffsetHelper.getCrossReferenceNode(resource, new TextRegion(firstPart.length()+1, 9)));
 	}
 
-	private void checkContainedElementAt(XtextResource resource, String model, String substring, EObject expectedElement) {
+	private void checkContainedOrReferencedElementAt(XtextResource resource, String model, String substring, EObject expectedElement) {
 		int index = model.indexOf(substring);
 		for (int i = index; i < index + substring.length(); ++i) {
 			EObject foundElement = eObjectAtOffsetHelper.resolveElementAt(resource, i);
 			assertEquals(expectedElement, foundElement);
+			foundElement = eObjectAtOffsetHelper.resolveCrossReferencedElementAt(resource, i);
+			assertNotSame(expectedElement, foundElement);
 		}
 	}
 
-	private void checkCrossReferencedElementAt(XtextResource resource, String model, String substring,
-			EObject expectedElement) {
+	private void checkCrossReferencedElementAt(XtextResource resource, String model, String substring, EObject expectedElement) {
 		int index = model.indexOf(substring);
 		for (int i = index; i < index + substring.length(); ++i) {
 			EObject foundElement = eObjectAtOffsetHelper.resolveCrossReferencedElementAt(resource, i);
 			assertEquals(expectedElement, foundElement);
+			foundElement = eObjectAtOffsetHelper.resolveElementAt(resource, i);
+			assertEquals(expectedElement, foundElement);
 		}
 	}
 }