diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 33e51df..4acf393 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
   "devDependencies": {
     "grunt": "^1.0.0",
     "grunt-contrib-internal": "^1.2.3",
-    "grunt-contrib-nodeunit": "^1.0.0"
+    "grunt-contrib-nodeunit": "^1.0.0",
+    "jshint-stylish": "^2.2.1"
   },
   "peerDependencies": {
     "grunt": ">=0.4.0"
diff --git a/tasks/lib/jshint.js b/tasks/lib/jshint.js
index 4923b46..be85349 100644
--- a/tasks/lib/jshint.js
+++ b/tasks/lib/jshint.js
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ exports.init = function(grunt) {
   // Run JSHint on the given files with the given options
   exports.lint = function(files, options, done) {
     var cliOptions = {
-      verbose: grunt.option('verbose'),
+      verbose: grunt.option('verbose') || !!options.verbose,
       extensions: ''
     };
 
@@ -189,7 +189,11 @@ exports.init = function(grunt) {
         }
       }
       // pass all of the remaining options directly to jshint
-      cliOptions.config = options;
+      var extend = require('util')._extend;
+      cliOptions.config = extend({},options);
+      //options is passed to the reporter hence we need to leave verbose on  options
+      //but verbose is an in valid option for jshint, therefore remove it from config.
+      delete cliOptions.config.verbose;
     }
 
     // Run JSHint on all file and collect results/data
diff --git a/test/jshint_test.js b/test/jshint_test.js
index e687733..2a54dca 100644
--- a/test/jshint_test.js
+++ b/test/jshint_test.js
@@ -101,6 +101,38 @@ exports.jshint = {
       test.done();
     });
   },
+  alternateReporterVerboseTrue: function(test) {
+    test.expect(2);
+    var files = [path.join(fixtures, 'nodemodule.js')];
+    var options = {
+      reporter: require('jshint-stylish'), 
+      verbose: true
+    };
+    stdoutEqual(function() {
+      jshint.lint(files, options, function() {});
+    }, function(result) {
+      var reg = /line.*\((W\d*)\)/g;
+      test.ok(jshint.usingGruntReporter === false, 'Should NOT be using the default grunt reporter.');
+      test.ok(reg.test(result) === true, 'Should have reported errors with with verbose option');
+      test.done();
+    });
+  },
+    alternateReporterVerboseFalse: function(test) {
+    test.expect(2);
+    var files = [path.join(fixtures, 'nodemodule.js')];
+    var options = {
+      reporter: require('jshint-stylish'), 
+      verbose: false
+    };
+    stdoutEqual(function() {
+      jshint.lint(files, options, function() {});
+    }, function(result) {
+      var reg = /line.*\((W\d*)\)/g;
+      test.ok(jshint.usingGruntReporter === false, 'Should NOT be using the default grunt reporter.');
+      test.ok(reg.test(result) === false, 'Should have reported errors with without verbose option');
+      test.done();
+    });
+  },
   reporterOutput: function(test) {
     test.expect(1);
     var result = grunt.file.read(path.join('tmp', 'report.xml'));