diff --git a/example/web/bouncing_balls.dart b/example/web/bouncing_balls.dart
index 30e3288b1..2861dc1f2 100644
--- a/example/web/bouncing_balls.dart
+++ b/example/web/bouncing_balls.dart
@@ -117,8 +117,10 @@ class BallPositionDirective {
     var style = element.style;
     style.backgroundColor = model.color;
     scope
-        ..watch('x', (x, _) => style.left = px(x), context: model, readOnly: true)
-        ..watch('y', (y, _) => style.top = px(y), context: model, readOnly: true);
+        ..watch('x', (x, _) => element.style.left = '${x + 10}px',
+            context: model, canChangeModel: false)
+        ..watch('y', (y, _) => element.style.top = '${y + 10}px',
+            context: model, canChangeModel: false);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/core/scope.dart b/lib/core/scope.dart
index 828713dcd..730acf447 100644
--- a/lib/core/scope.dart
+++ b/lib/core/scope.dart
@@ -192,17 +192,20 @@ class Scope {
   /**
    * Use [watch] to set up a watch in the [apply] cycle.
    *
-   * When [readOnly] is [:true:], the watch will be executed in the [flush]
-   * cycle. It should be used when the [reactionFn] does not change the model
-   * and allows the [digest] phase to converge faster.
+   * When [canChangeModel] is [:false:], the watch will be executed in the
+   * [flush] cycle. It should be used when the [reactionFn] does not change the
+   * model and allows speeding up the [digest] phase.
    *
-   * On the opposite, [readOnly] should be set to [:false:] if the [reactionFn]
-   * could change the model so that the watch is observed in the [digest] cycle.
+   * On the opposite, [canChangeModel] should be set to [:true:] if the
+   * [reactionFn] could change the model so that the watch is evaluated in the
+   * [digest] cycle.
    */
-  Watch watch(String expression, ReactionFn reactionFn, {context,
-      FilterMap filters, bool readOnly: false, bool collection: false}) {
+  Watch watch(String expression, ReactionFn reactionFn,  {context,
+      FilterMap filters, bool canChangeModel: true, bool collection: false}) {
     assert(isAttached);
     assert(expression is String);
+    assert(canChangeModel is bool);
+
     Watch watch;
     ReactionFn fn = reactionFn;
     if (expression.isEmpty) {
@@ -224,7 +227,8 @@ class Scope {
 
     AST ast = rootScope._astParser(expression, context: context,
         filters: filters, collection: collection);
-    WatchGroup group = readOnly ? _readOnlyGroup : _readWriteGroup;
+
+    WatchGroup group = canChangeModel ? _readWriteGroup : _readOnlyGroup;
     return watch = group.watch(ast, fn);
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/core_dom/ng_mustache.dart b/lib/core_dom/ng_mustache.dart
index 60fbbe258..b727169dc 100644
--- a/lib/core_dom/ng_mustache.dart
+++ b/lib/core_dom/ng_mustache.dart
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ class NgTextMustacheDirective {
                           FilterMap filters) {
     String expression = interpolate(template);
 
-    scope.watch(expression, _updateMarkup, readOnly: true, filters: filters);
+    scope.watch(expression,
+                _updateMarkup,
+                canChangeModel: false,
+                filters: filters);
   }
 
   void _updateMarkup(text, previousText) {
@@ -45,7 +48,7 @@ class NgAttrMustacheDirective {
       _hasObservers = hasObservers;
       if (_watch != null) _watch.remove();
         _watch = scope.watch(expression, _updateMarkup, filters: filters,
-            readOnly: !_hasObservers);
+            canChangeModel: _hasObservers);
       }
     });
   }
diff --git a/lib/directive/ng_class.dart b/lib/directive/ng_class.dart
index fbe33464e..996ae17f9 100644
--- a/lib/directive/ng_class.dart
+++ b/lib/directive/ng_class.dart
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ abstract class _NgClassBase {
       currentSet = _flatten(current);
       _handleChange(scope.context[r'$index']);
     },
-    readOnly: true,
+    canChangeModel: false,
     collection: true);
 
     if (mode != null) {
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ abstract class _NgClassBase {
             previousSet.forEach((css) => _animate.removeClass(element, css));
           }
         }
-      }, readOnly: true);
+      }, canChangeModel: false);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/directive/ng_style.dart b/lib/directive/ng_style.dart
index efbb6e3b4..566ba946b 100644
--- a/lib/directive/ng_style.dart
+++ b/lib/directive/ng_style.dart
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ class NgStyleDirective {
   set styleExpression(String value) {
     _styleExpression = value;
     if (_watch != null) _watch.remove();
-    _watch = _scope.watch(_styleExpression, _onStyleChange, readOnly: true,
-        collection: true);
+    _watch = _scope.watch(_styleExpression, _onStyleChange, collection: true,
+        canChangeModel: false);
   }
 
   _onStyleChange(MapChangeRecord mapChangeRecord, _) {
diff --git a/test/core/scope_spec.dart b/test/core/scope_spec.dart
index 15a0277ed..4364ff755 100644
--- a/test/core/scope_spec.dart
+++ b/test/core/scope_spec.dart
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ void main() {
       it(r'should apply expression with full lifecycle', (RootScope rootScope) {
         var log = '';
         var child = rootScope.createChild({"parent": rootScope.context});
-        rootScope.watch('a', (a, _) { log += '1'; }, readOnly: true);
+        rootScope.watch('a', (a, _) { log += '1'; }, canChangeModel: false);
         child.apply('parent.a = 0');
         expect(log).toEqual('1');
       });
@@ -871,7 +871,7 @@ void main() {
       it(r'should schedule domWrites and domReads', (RootScope rootScope) {
         var log = '';
         var child = rootScope.createChild({"parent": rootScope.context});
-        rootScope.watch('a', (a, _) { log += '1'; }, readOnly: true);
+        rootScope.watch('a', (a, _) { log += '1'; }, canChangeModel: false);
         child.apply('parent.a = 0');
         expect(log).toEqual('1');
       });
@@ -884,7 +884,7 @@ void main() {
         beforeEach((RootScope rootScope) {
           rootScope.context['log'] = () { log += 'digest;'; return null; };
           log = '';
-          rootScope.watch('log()', (v, o) => null, readOnly: true);
+          rootScope.watch('log()', (v, o) => null, canChangeModel: false);
           rootScope.digest();
           log = '';
         });
@@ -893,7 +893,7 @@ void main() {
           LoggingExceptionHandler exceptionHandler = e;
           var log = [];
           var child = rootScope.createChild({});
-          rootScope.watch('a', (a, _) => log.add('1'), readOnly: true);
+          rootScope.watch('a', (a, _) => log.add('1'), canChangeModel: false);
           rootScope.context['a'] = 0;
           child.apply(() { throw 'MyError'; });
           expect(log.join(',')).toEqual('1');
@@ -929,7 +929,8 @@ void main() {
           rootScope.context['logger'] = (name) { log(name); return retValue; };
 
           rootScope.watch('logger("watch")', (n, v) => null);
-          rootScope.watch('logger("flush")', (n, v) => null, readOnly: true);
+          rootScope.watch('logger("flush")', (n, v) => null,
+              canChangeModel: false);
 
           // clear watches
           rootScope.digest();
@@ -1426,7 +1427,8 @@ void main() {
           rootScope.domWrite(() => logger('write3'));
           throw 'read1';
         });
-        rootScope.watch('value', (_, __) => logger('observe'), readOnly: true);
+        rootScope.watch('value', (_, __) => logger('observe'),
+            canChangeModel: false);
         rootScope.flush();
         expect(logger).toEqual(['write1', 'write2', 'observe', 'read1', 'read2', 'write3']);
         expect(exceptionHandler.errors.length).toEqual(2);