diff --git a/filter/activitynames/tests/filter_test.php b/filter/activitynames/tests/filter_test.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..403170efffe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/filter/activitynames/tests/filter_test.php
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+<?php
+// This file is part of Moodle - http://moodle.org/
+//
+// Moodle is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// Moodle is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with Moodle.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests.
+ *
+ * @package filter_activitynames
+ * @category test
+ * @copyright 2018 The Open University
+ * @license http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU GPL v3 or later
+ */
+
+defined('MOODLE_INTERNAL') || die();
+
+global $CFG;
+require_once($CFG->dirroot . '/filter/activitynames/filter.php'); // Include the code to test.
+
+/**
+ * Test case for the activity names auto-linking filter.
+ *
+ * @copyright 2018 The Open University
+ * @license http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU GPL v3 or later
+ */
+class filter_activitynames_filter_testcase extends advanced_testcase {
+
+    public function test_links() {
+        global $CFG;
+        $this->resetAfterTest(true);
+
+        // Create a test course.
+        $course = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_course();
+        $context = context_course::instance($course->id);
+
+        // Create two pages that will be linked to.
+        $page1 = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_module('page',
+                ['course' => $course->id, 'name' => 'Test 1']);
+        $page2 = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_module('page',
+                ['course' => $course->id, 'name' => 'Test (2)']);
+
+        // Format text with all three entries in HTML.
+        $html = '<p>Please read the two pages Test 1 and <i>Test (2)</i>.</p>';
+        $filtered = format_text($html, FORMAT_HTML, array('context' => $context));
+
+        // Find all the glossary links in the result.
+        $matches = [];
+        preg_match_all('~<a class="autolink" title="([^"]*)" href="[^"]*/mod/page/view.php\?id=([0-9]+)">([^<]*)</a>~',
+                $filtered, $matches);
+
+        // There should be 3 links links.
+        $this->assertEquals(2, count($matches[1]));
+
+        // Check text of title attribute.
+        $this->assertEquals($page1->name, $matches[1][0]);
+        $this->assertEquals($page2->name, $matches[1][1]);
+
+        // Check the ids in the links.
+        $this->assertEquals($page1->cmid, $matches[2][0]);
+        $this->assertEquals($page2->cmid, $matches[2][1]);
+
+        // Check the link text.
+        $this->assertEquals($page1->name, $matches[3][0]);
+        $this->assertEquals($page2->name, $matches[3][1]);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/filter/glossary/tests/filter_test.php b/filter/glossary/tests/filter_test.php
index f22822cf031..a5441bbf998 100644
--- a/filter/glossary/tests/filter_test.php
+++ b/filter/glossary/tests/filter_test.php
@@ -192,6 +192,52 @@ class filter_glossary_filter_testcase extends advanced_testcase {
         $this->assertEquals($glossary->name . ': normal', $matches[2][2]);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test brackets.
+     */
+    public function test_brackets() {
+        global $CFG;
+        $this->resetAfterTest(true);
+
+        // Enable glossary filter at top level.
+        filter_set_global_state('glossary', TEXTFILTER_ON);
+        $CFG->glossary_linkentries = 1;
+
+        // Create a test course.
+        $course = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_course();
+        $context = context_course::instance($course->id);
+
+        // Create a glossary.
+        $glossary = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_module('glossary',
+                array('course' => $course->id, 'mainglossary' => 1));
+
+        // Create two entries with ampersands and one normal entry.
+        /** @var mod_glossary_generator $generator */
+        $generator = $this->getDataGenerator()->get_plugin_generator('mod_glossary');
+        $simple = $generator->create_content($glossary, array('concept' => 'simple'));
+        $withbrackets = $generator->create_content($glossary, array('concept' => 'more complex (perhaps)'));
+        $test2 = $generator->create_content($glossary, array('concept' => 'Test (2)'));
+
+        // Format text with all three entries in HTML.
+        $html = '<p>Some thigns are simple. Others are more complex (perhaps). Test (2).</p>';
+        $filtered = format_text($html, FORMAT_HTML, array('context' => $context));
+
+        // Find all the glossary links in the result.
+        $matches = array();
+        preg_match_all('~eid=([0-9]+).*?title="(.*?)"~', $filtered, $matches);
+
+        // There should be 3 glossary links.
+        $this->assertEquals(3, count($matches[1]));
+        $this->assertEquals($simple->id, $matches[1][0]);
+        $this->assertEquals($withbrackets->id, $matches[1][1]);
+        $this->assertEquals($test2->id, $matches[1][2]);
+
+        // Check text and escaping of title attribute.
+        $this->assertEquals($glossary->name . ': simple', $matches[2][0]);
+        $this->assertEquals($glossary->name . ': more complex (perhaps)', $matches[2][1]);
+        $this->assertEquals($glossary->name . ': Test (2)', $matches[2][2]);
+    }
+
     public function test_exclude_excludes_link_to_entry_with_alias() {
         global $CFG, $GLOSSARY_EXCLUDEENTRY;
 
diff --git a/lib/filterlib.php b/lib/filterlib.php
index d991075af96..f210a257de5 100644
--- a/lib/filterlib.php
+++ b/lib/filterlib.php
@@ -1278,7 +1278,7 @@ function filter_phrases($text, $linkarray, $ignoretagsopen = null, $ignoretagscl
     // for things that have already been matched on this page.
     static $usedphrases = [];
 
-    $ignoretags = array();  // To store all the enclosig tags to be completely ignored.
+    $ignoretags = array();  // To store all the enclosing tags to be completely ignored.
     $tags = array();        // To store all the simple tags to be ignored.
 
     if (!$linkarrayalreadyprepared) {
@@ -1418,8 +1418,15 @@ function filter_prepare_phrases_for_filtering(array $linkarray) {
         // Quote any regular expression characters and the delimiter in the work phrase to be searched.
         $linkobject->workregexp = preg_quote($linkobject->workregexp, '/');
 
+        // If we ony want to match entire words then add \b assertions. However, only
+        // do this if the first or last thing in the phrase to match is a word character.
         if ($linkobject->fullmatch) {
-            $linkobject->workregexp = '\b' . $linkobject->workregexp . '\b';
+            if (preg_match('~^\w~', $linkobject->workregexp)) {
+                $linkobject->workregexp = '\b' . $linkobject->workregexp;
+            }
+            if (preg_match('~\w$~', $linkobject->workregexp)) {
+                $linkobject->workregexp = $linkobject->workregexp . '\b';
+            }
         }
 
         $linkobject->workregexp = '/(' . $linkobject->workregexp . ')/s';