diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
index 8aaf0f8c79d..3865b9c0b88 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ import collections
 import socket
 import base64
 import sys
-import shlex
 import pipes
 import jinja2
 import subprocess
diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/assemble.py b/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/assemble.py
index c73964cda68..2fd76391769 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/assemble.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/assemble.py
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ class ActionModule(object):
         options  = {}
         if complex_args:
             options.update(complex_args)
+
         options.update(utils.parse_kv(module_args))
 
         src = options.get('src', None)
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ class ActionModule(object):
         delimiter = options.get('delimiter', None)
         remote_src = utils.boolean(options.get('remote_src', 'yes'))
 
+
         if src is None or dest is None:
             result = dict(failed=True, msg="src and dest are required")
             return ReturnData(conn=conn, comm_ok=False, result=result)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
index 2543c5776ac..2d3fb24db30 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
@@ -539,8 +539,14 @@ def parse_kv(args):
     if args is not None:
         # attempting to split a unicode here does bad things
         args = args.encode('utf-8')
-        vargs = [x.decode('utf-8') for x in shlex.split(args, posix=True)]
-        #vargs = shlex.split(str(args), posix=True)
+        try:
+            vargs = shlex.split(args, posix=True)
+        except ValueError, ve:
+            if 'no closing quotation' in str(ve).lower():
+                raise errors.AnsibleError("error parsing argument string, try quoting the entire line.")
+            else:
+                raise
+        vargs = [x.decode('utf-8') for x in vargs]
         for x in vargs:
             if "=" in x:
                 k, v = x.split("=",1)