diff --git a/TestUtil.hs b/TestUtil.hs
index 3db602c..ad14bf7 100644
--- a/TestUtil.hs
+++ b/TestUtil.hs
@@ -48,8 +48,11 @@ makeLiteralString str = A.Literal m (A.Array [A.Dimension (length str)] A.Byte)
     makeLiteralChar c = A.ArrayElemExpr $ A.Literal m A.Byte (A.ByteLiteral m [c] {-(show (fromEnum c))-})
 
 
-assertEqualCustom :: (Show a) => String -> (a -> a -> Bool) -> a -> a -> Assertion
-assertEqualCustom  preface cmp expected actual =
+assertCompareCustom :: (Show a) => String -> (a -> a -> Bool) -> a -> a -> Assertion
+assertCompareCustom  preface cmp expected actual =
   unless (cmp actual expected) (assertFailure msg)
  where msg = (if null preface then "" else preface ++ "\n") ++
-             "expected: " ++ show expected ++ "\n but got: " ++ show actual
+             "expected: " ++ show expected ++ "\n*** got: " ++ show actual
+
+assertNotEqual :: (Show a,Eq a) => String -> a -> a -> Assertion
+assertNotEqual msg = assertCompareCustom msg (/=)
diff --git a/UsageCheckTest.hs b/UsageCheckTest.hs
index 481da1b..4cd737a 100644
--- a/UsageCheckTest.hs
+++ b/UsageCheckTest.hs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import Data.Ord
 --(it is an O(N^2) comparison), but thankfully it's only used during testing:
 assertEqualWR :: String -> UC.WrittenRead -> UC.WrittenRead -> Assertion
 assertEqualWR text exp act 
-  = assertEqualCustom text inefficientEqual exp act
+  = assertCompareCustom text inefficientEqual exp act
   where
     --We can assume there are no duplicates, because getVars will remove duplicates, and
     --our expected values in tests should not have duplicate entries