diff --git a/src/FPGroups.jl b/src/FPGroups.jl
index 3901597..4b930e2 100644
--- a/src/FPGroups.jl
+++ b/src/FPGroups.jl
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ FPGroup(H::FreeGroup) = FPGroup([FPSymbol(s) for s in H.gens])
 ###############################################################################
 
 function (G::FPGroup)()
-   id = FPGroupElem(FPSymbol("", 0))
+   id = FPGroupElem(FPSymbol[])
    id.parent = G
    return id
 end
diff --git a/src/FreeGroup.jl b/src/FreeGroup.jl
index 1d2d641..6624f2b 100644
--- a/src/FreeGroup.jl
+++ b/src/FreeGroup.jl
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ FreeGroup(a::Vector{String}) = FreeGroup([FreeSymbol(i) for i in a])
 ###############################################################################
 
 function (G::FreeGroup)()
-   id = FreeGroupElem(FreeSymbol("", 0))
+   id = FreeGroupElem(FreeSymbol[])
    id.parent = G
    return id
 end
diff --git a/test/FreeGroup-tests.jl b/test/FreeGroup-tests.jl
index 507a68c..04ec2de 100644
--- a/test/FreeGroup-tests.jl
+++ b/test/FreeGroup-tests.jl
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ end
    end
 
    @testset "reductions" begin
-      @test length(G().symbols) == 1
+      @test length(G().symbols) == 0
       @test length((G()*G()).symbols) == 0
       @test G() == G()*G()
       w = deepcopy(s)