diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/testcase-canonical.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/testcase-canonical.php
index e0b93c8511..2ffbc982eb 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/includes/testcase-canonical.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/testcase-canonical.php
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ class WP_Canonical_UnitTestCase extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 			$expected = array( 'qv' => $expected );
 
 		if ( !isset($expected['url']) && !isset($expected['qv']) )
-			$this->markTestSkipped('No valid expected output was provided');
+			$this->fail( 'No valid expected output was provided' );
 
 		$this->go_to( home_url( $test_url ) );
 
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ class WP_Canonical_UnitTestCase extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 			$this->assertEquals( $expected['url'], $parsed_can_url['path'] . (!empty($parsed_can_url['query']) ? '?' . $parsed_can_url['query'] : ''), $ticket_ref );
 		}
 
+		// If the test data doesn't include expected query vars, then we're done here
 		if ( ! isset($expected['qv']) )
 			return;