diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
index 223a588413..5bba47a958 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
@@ -567,8 +567,6 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
                 if pwd:
                     expanded = pwd
                     quote = None
-            elif len(expand_path) > 1:
-                expanded = self._connection._shell.join_path(initial_fragment, *expand_path[1:])
             else:
                 expanded = initial_fragment

diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/shell/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/shell/__init__.py
index 7eae68579e..60498d70a2 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/shell/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/shell/__init__.py
@@ -155,7 +155,9 @@ class ShellBase(AnsiblePlugin):
             if not _USER_HOME_PATH_RE.match(user_home_path):
                 # shlex_quote will make the shell return the string verbatim
                 user_home_path = shlex_quote(user_home_path)
-        return 'echo "%s\t%spwd%s"' % (user_home_path, self._SHELL_SUB_LEFT, self._SHELL_SUB_RIGHT)
+        return 'echo "%secho %s%s\t%spwd%s"'\
+               % (self._SHELL_SUB_LEFT, user_home_path, self._SHELL_SUB_RIGHT,
+                  self._SHELL_SUB_LEFT, self._SHELL_SUB_RIGHT)

     def build_module_command(self, env_string, shebang, cmd, arg_path=None):
         # don't quote the cmd if it's an empty string, because this will break pipelining mode