diff --git a/src/Compilers/Core/Portable/Syntax/GreenNode.cs b/src/Compilers/Core/Portable/Syntax/GreenNode.cs
index ce0d2d07a96ed..13625bb2847fe 100644
--- a/src/Compilers/Core/Portable/Syntax/GreenNode.cs
+++ b/src/Compilers/Core/Portable/Syntax/GreenNode.cs
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ protected GreenNode(ushort kind, DiagnosticInfo[]? diagnostics, SyntaxAnnotation
                     if (annotation == null) throw new ArgumentException(paramName: nameof(annotations), message: "" /*CSharpResources.ElementsCannotBeNull*/);
                 }
 
-                this.flags |= NodeFlags.ContainsAnnotations;
+                this.flags |= (NodeFlags.HasAnnotationsDirectly | NodeFlags.ContainsAnnotations);
                 s_annotationsTable.Add(this, annotations);
             }
         }
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ protected GreenNode(ushort kind, DiagnosticInfo[]? diagnostics, SyntaxAnnotation
                     if (annotation == null) throw new ArgumentException(paramName: nameof(annotations), message: "" /*CSharpResources.ElementsCannotBeNull*/);
                 }
 
-                this.flags |= NodeFlags.ContainsAnnotations;
+                this.flags |= (NodeFlags.HasAnnotationsDirectly | NodeFlags.ContainsAnnotations);
                 s_annotationsTable.Add(this, annotations);
             }
         }
@@ -260,19 +260,39 @@ public virtual int FindSlotIndexContainingOffset(int offset)
         internal enum NodeFlags : ushort
         {
             None = 0,
-            ContainsDiagnostics = 1 << 0,
-            ContainsStructuredTrivia = 1 << 1,
-            ContainsDirectives = 1 << 2,
-            ContainsSkippedText = 1 << 3,
-            ContainsAnnotations = 1 << 4,
-            IsNotMissing = 1 << 5,
-            ContainsAttributes = 1 << 6,
-
-            FactoryContextIsInAsync = 1 << 7,
-            FactoryContextIsInQuery = 1 << 8,
+            /// <summary>
+            /// If this node is missing or not.  We use a non-zero value for the not-missing case so that this value
+            /// automatically merges upwards when building parent nodes.  In other words, once we have one node that is
+            /// not-missing, all nodes above it are definitely not-missing as well.
+            /// </summary>
+            IsNotMissing = 1 << 0,
+            /// <summary>
+            /// If this node directly has annotations (not its descendants).  <see cref="ContainsAnnotations"/> can be
+            /// used to determine if a node or any of its descendants has annotations.
+            /// </summary>
+            HasAnnotationsDirectly = 1 << 1,
+
+            FactoryContextIsInAsync = 1 << 2,
+            FactoryContextIsInQuery = 1 << 3,
             FactoryContextIsInIterator = FactoryContextIsInQuery,  // VB does not use "InQuery", but uses "InIterator" instead
 
-            InheritMask = ContainsDiagnostics | ContainsStructuredTrivia | ContainsDirectives | ContainsSkippedText | ContainsAnnotations | ContainsAttributes | IsNotMissing,
+            // Flags that are inherited upwards when building parent nodes.  They should all start with "Contains" to
+            // indicate that the information could be found on it or anywhere in its children.
+
+            /// <summary>
+            /// If this node, or any of its descendants has annotations attached to them.
+            /// </summary>
+            ContainsAnnotations = 1 << 4,
+            /// <summary>
+            /// If this node, or any of its descendants has attributes attached to it.
+            /// </summary>
+            ContainsAttributes = 1 << 5,
+            ContainsDiagnostics = 1 << 6,
+            ContainsDirectives = 1 << 7,
+            ContainsSkippedText = 1 << 8,
+            ContainsStructuredTrivia = 1 << 9,
+
+            InheritMask = IsNotMissing | ContainsAnnotations | ContainsAttributes | ContainsDiagnostics | ContainsDirectives | ContainsSkippedText | ContainsStructuredTrivia,
         }
 
         internal NodeFlags Flags
@@ -370,6 +390,15 @@ public bool ContainsAnnotations
                 return (this.flags & NodeFlags.ContainsAnnotations) != 0;
             }
         }
+
+        public bool HasAnnotationsDirectly
+        {
+            get
+            {
+                return (this.flags & NodeFlags.HasAnnotationsDirectly) != 0;
+            }
+        }
+
         #endregion
 
         #region Spans
@@ -541,17 +570,15 @@ private static IEnumerable<SyntaxAnnotation> GetAnnotationsSlow(SyntaxAnnotation
 
         public SyntaxAnnotation[] GetAnnotations()
         {
-            if (this.ContainsAnnotations)
-            {
-                SyntaxAnnotation[]? annotations;
-                if (s_annotationsTable.TryGetValue(this, out annotations))
-                {
-                    System.Diagnostics.Debug.Assert(annotations.Length != 0, "we should return nonempty annotations or NoAnnotations");
-                    return annotations;
-                }
-            }
+            if (!this.HasAnnotationsDirectly)
+                return s_noAnnotations;
 
-            return s_noAnnotations;
+            var found = s_annotationsTable.TryGetValue(this, out var annotations);
+            Debug.Assert(found, "We must be able to find annotations since we had the bit set on ourselves");
+            Debug.Assert(annotations != null, "annotations should not be null");
+            Debug.Assert(annotations != s_noAnnotations, "annotations should not be s_noAnnotations");
+            Debug.Assert(annotations.Length != 0, "annotations should be non-empty");
+            return annotations;
         }
 
         internal abstract GreenNode SetAnnotations(SyntaxAnnotation[]? annotations);