diff --git a/src/flake8/main/application.py b/src/flake8/main/application.py
index 6393dad..65a17d5 100644
--- a/src/flake8/main/application.py
+++ b/src/flake8/main/application.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import argparse
 import logging
 import sys
 import time
-from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Set
+from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Set, Tuple
 
 import flake8
 from flake8 import checker
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ class Application(object):
         self.parsed_diff = {}  # type: Dict[str, Set[int]]
 
     def parse_preliminary_options_and_args(self, argv):
-        # type: (List[str]) -> None
+        # type: (List[str]) -> Tuple[argparse.Namespace, List[str]]
         """Get preliminary options and args from CLI, pre-plugin-loading.
 
         We need to know the values of a few standard options and args now, so
@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ class Application(object):
 
         :param list argv:
             Command-line arguments passed in directly.
+        :returns:
+            Populated namespace and list of remaining argument strings.
+        :rtype:
+            (argparse.Namespace, list)
         """
         # We haven't found or registered our plugins yet, so let's defer
         # printing the version until we aggregate options from config files
@@ -139,6 +143,7 @@ class Application(object):
         # parse_known_args includes unknown options as args
         args = [a for a in args if not a.startswith("-")]
         self.prelim_opts, self.prelim_args = opts, args
+        return opts, args
 
     def exit(self):
         # type: () -> None
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_application.py b/tests/unit/test_application.py
index 8e5c9d5..ea4f090 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_application.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_application.py
@@ -92,18 +92,22 @@ def test_returns_specified_plugin(application):
 
 def test_prelim_opts_args(application):
     """Verify we get sensible prelim opts and args."""
-    application.parse_preliminary_options_and_args(
+    opts, args = application.parse_preliminary_options_and_args(
         ['flake8', '--foo', '--verbose', 'src', 'setup.py', '--statistics'])
 
     assert application.prelim_opts.statistics
     assert application.prelim_opts.verbose
     assert application.prelim_args == ['src', 'setup.py']
+    assert opts.statistics is application.prelim_opts.statistics
+    assert opts.verbose is application.prelim_opts.verbose
+    assert args is application.prelim_args
 
 
 def test_prelim_opts_handles_empty(application):
     """Verify empty argv lists are handled correctly."""
     irrelevant_args = ['myexe', '/path/to/foo']
     with mock.patch.object(sys, 'argv', irrelevant_args):
-        application.parse_preliminary_options_and_args([])
+        opts, args = application.parse_preliminary_options_and_args([])
 
         assert application.prelim_args == []
+        assert args is application.prelim_args