diff --git a/Sources/Nimble/Matchers/BeIdenticalTo.swift b/Sources/Nimble/Matchers/BeIdenticalTo.swift
index 3f00b187f..85e5b50c8 100644
--- a/Sources/Nimble/Matchers/BeIdenticalTo.swift
+++ b/Sources/Nimble/Matchers/BeIdenticalTo.swift
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /// A Nimble matcher that succeeds when the actual value is the same instance
 /// as the expected instance.
-public func beIdenticalTo(_ expected: AnyObject?) -> Matcher<AnyObject> {
+public func beIdenticalTo<T: AnyObject>(_ expected: T?) -> Matcher<T> {
     return Matcher.define { actualExpression in
         let actual = try actualExpression.evaluate()
 
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public func !== (lhs: AsyncExpectation<AnyObject>, rhs: AnyObject?) async {
 /// as the expected instance.
 ///
 /// Alias for "beIdenticalTo".
-public func be(_ expected: AnyObject?) -> Matcher<AnyObject> {
+public func be<T: AnyObject>(_ expected: T?) -> Matcher<T> {
     return beIdenticalTo(expected)
 }
 
diff --git a/Tests/NimbleTests/Matchers/BeIdenticalToObjectTest.swift b/Tests/NimbleTests/Matchers/BeIdenticalToObjectTest.swift
index a82077b2e..0ba2316d0 100644
--- a/Tests/NimbleTests/Matchers/BeIdenticalToObjectTest.swift
+++ b/Tests/NimbleTests/Matchers/BeIdenticalToObjectTest.swift
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ final class BeIdenticalToObjectTest: XCTestCase {
 
     func testBeIdenticalToPositive() {
         expect(self.testObjectA).to(beIdenticalTo(testObjectA))
+        // check that the typing works out when used as a submatcher.
+        expect(self.testObjectA).to(map({ $0 }, beIdenticalTo(testObjectA)))
     }
 
     func testBeIdenticalToNegative() {