diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 75ca6f8b..e6bfd32d 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -30,51 +30,37 @@ exports.merge = function (target, source, options) {
     if (typeof source !== 'object') {
         if (Array.isArray(target)) {
             target.push(source);
+            return target;
         } else if (typeof target === 'object') {
-            if (options.plainObjects || options.allowPrototypes || !has.call(Object.prototype, source)) {
-                target[source] = true;
-            }
+            source = exports.arrayToObject([source], options);
         } else {
-            return [target, source];
+            target = [target, source];
+            return target;
         }
-
-        return target;
-    }
-
-    if (typeof target !== 'object') {
-        return [target].concat(source);
-    }
-
-    var mergeTarget = target;
-    if (Array.isArray(target) && !Array.isArray(source)) {
-        mergeTarget = exports.arrayToObject(target, options);
-    }
-
-    if (Array.isArray(target) && Array.isArray(source)) {
-        source.forEach(function (item, i) {
-            if (has.call(target, i)) {
-                if (target[i] && typeof target[i] === 'object') {
-                    target[i] = exports.merge(target[i], item, options);
-                } else {
-                    target.push(item);
-                }
-            } else {
-                target[i] = item;
-            }
-        });
+    } else if (Array.isArray(target) &&
+        !Array.isArray(source)) {
+        target = exports.arrayToObject(target, options);
+    } else if (Array.isArray(source) && typeof target !== 'object') {
+        source.splice(0, 0, target);
+        target = source;
         return target;
+    } else if (typeof target !== 'object') {
+        target = exports.arrayToObject([target], options);
     }
 
-    return Object.keys(source).reduce(function (acc, key) {
+    var keys = Object.keys(source);
+    for (var i = 0; i < keys.length; ++i) {
+        var key = keys[i];
         var value = source[key];
 
-        if (has.call(acc, key)) {
-            acc[key] = exports.merge(acc[key], value, options);
+        if (has.call(target, key)) {
+            target[key] = exports.merge(target[key], value, options);
         } else {
-            acc[key] = value;
+            target[key] = value;
         }
-        return acc;
-    }, mergeTarget);
+    }
+
+    return target;
 };
 
 exports.assign = function assignSingleSource(target, source) {
diff --git a/test/parse.js b/test/parse.js
index a92ea15c..1e5e726a 100644
--- a/test/parse.js
+++ b/test/parse.js
@@ -535,5 +535,80 @@ test('parse()', function (t) {
         st.end();
     });
 
+    t.test('parses string/object combination', function (st) {
+
+        var expectObj = { a: { 0: 'val1', b: 'val2' } };
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a=val1&a.b=val2', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a.b=val2&a=val1', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        expectObj = { a: { 0: 'val1', b: 'val2', c: 'val3' } };
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a.b=val2&a=val1&a.c=val3', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        expectObj = { a: { 0: 'val1', 1: 'val3', b: 'val2' } };
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a.b=val2&a=val1&a=val3', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a=val1&a.b=val2&a=val3', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        expectObj = { a: { 0: 'val1', 1: 'val2', 2: 'val3', b: 'val4' } };
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a=val1&a=val2&a=val3&a.b=val4', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        expectObj = { a: { 0: 'val1', b: ['val2', 'val3'] } };
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a=val1&a.b=val2&a.b=val3', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        expectObj = { a: { 0: 'val1', b: { 0: 'val2', c: 'val3' } } };
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a=val1&a.b=val2&a.b.c=val3', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a.b.c=val3&a.b=val2&a=val1', { allowDots: true }), expectObj);
+        st.end();
+    });
+
+    t.test('parses string/object combination', function (st) {
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a=val1&a.b=val2', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', b: 'val2' } },
+            'string + object'
+        );
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a.b=val2&a=val1', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', b: 'val2' } },
+            'object + string'
+        );
+
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a.b=val2&a=val1&a.c=val3', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', b: 'val2', c: 'val3' } },
+            'object + string + object'
+        );
+
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a.b=val2&a=val1&a=val3', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', 1: 'val3', b: 'val2' } },
+            'object + string + string'
+        );
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a=val1&a.b=val2&a=val3', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', 1: 'val3', b: 'val2' } },
+            'string + object + string'
+        );
+
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a=val1&a=val2&a=val3&a.b=val4', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', 1: 'val2', 2: 'val3', b: 'val4' } },
+            'string + string + string + object'
+        );
+
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a=val1&a.b=val2&a.b=val3', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', b: ['val2', 'val3'] } },
+            'string + object + object'
+        );
+
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a=val1&a.b=val2&a.b.c=val3', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', b: { 0: 'val2', c: 'val3' } } },
+            'string + object + nested object'
+        );
+        st.deepEqual(
+            qs.parse('a.b.c=val3&a.b=val2&a=val1', { allowDots: true }),
+            { a: { 0: 'val1', b: { 0: 'val2', c: 'val3' } } },
+            'nested object + object + string'
+        );
+
+        st.end();
+    });
+
     t.end();
 });