diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 885b1b6c3..f13aa2d4a 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -51,4 +51,4 @@ Encoding: UTF-8
 Language: en-US
 LazyData: true
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
-RoxygenNote: 7.3.1
+RoxygenNote: 7.3.2
diff --git a/R/construction_helpers.R b/R/construction_helpers.R
index 6672b1e1f..fe1bd3c17 100644
--- a/R/construction_helpers.R
+++ b/R/construction_helpers.R
@@ -123,12 +123,22 @@ construct_model.survey.design <- function(data, formula, method, method.args = l
   )
 }
 
-.as_list_of_exprs <- function(x) {
+.as_list_of_exprs <- function(x, arg_name = "method.args") {
   x_enexpr <- enexpr(x)
+  if (is_call_simple(x_enexpr)) {
+    return(call_args(x_enexpr))
+  }
+
   if (tryCatch(inherits(x, "list"), error = \(x) FALSE)) {
     return(x)
   }
-  call_args(x_enexpr)
+
+  cli::cli_abort(
+    c("There was an error processing the {.arg {argname}} argument.",
+      i = "Expecting a simple call. See {.help rlang::is_call_simple} for details."
+    ),
+    call = get_cli_abort_call()
+  )
 }
 
 #' @rdname construction_helpers