diff --git a/library/Erfurt/Store.php b/library/Erfurt/Store.php
index af8ec69e..e5f06ff0 100644
--- a/library/Erfurt/Store.php
+++ b/library/Erfurt/Store.php
@@ -795,6 +795,15 @@ public function getSearchPattern($stringSpec, $graphUris, $options = array())
 
         // TODO stringSpec should be more than simple string (parse for and/or/xor etc...)
         $stringSpec = (string) $stringSpec;
+        if (strpbrk($stringSpec, '\'') === false) {
+            $parts = explode(' ', $stringSpec);
+            $stringSpec = '';
+            foreach ($parts as $word) {
+                $stringSpec.= '\'' . $word . '\' AND ';
+            }
+            // Remove the last AND (including whitespace)
+            $stringSpec = substr($stringSpec, 0, strlen($stringSpec)-5);
+        }
 
         $options = array_merge(
             array(
diff --git a/library/Erfurt/Store/Adapter/Virtuoso.php b/library/Erfurt/Store/Adapter/Virtuoso.php
index 6c601206..987db08c 100644
--- a/library/Erfurt/Store/Adapter/Virtuoso.php
+++ b/library/Erfurt/Store/Adapter/Virtuoso.php
@@ -514,7 +514,7 @@ public function getSearchPattern($stringSpec, $graphUris, $options)
                      */
                         new Erfurt_Sparql_Query2_Function(
                             $bifContains,
-                            array($objectVariable, new Erfurt_Sparql_Query2_RDFLiteral($stringSpec, null, '"\''))
+                            array($objectVariable, new Erfurt_Sparql_Query2_RDFLiteral($stringSpec))
                         )
                     )
                 )