Recently, I was being tongue in cheek when I wrote the following words:

• I'm quite dead, I assure you.

Someone felt inclined to correct my grammar and say that it was a comma splice. They suggested that I should've written it one of the following ways:

• I'm quite dead. I assure you.

• I'm quite dead; I assure you.

Their reasoning was that it's two main clauses not joined by a conjunction. I see where they are coming from, but it also looked strange to me because what I meant was:

• I assure you (that) I'm quite dead.

I simply inverted it. The "that" is implied. Does inverting the sentence affect punctuation? Where I had no punctuation before, is punctuation now required? If so, is a comma sufficient or is either a semicolon or period required? Which would be the proper way to write such sentences?

A. I'm quite dead I assure you.

B. I'm quite dead, I assure you.

C. I'm quite dead; I assure you.

D. I'm quite dead. I assure you.

Recently, I was being tongue in cheek when I wrote the following words:

• I'm quite dead, I assure you.

Someone felt inclined to correct my grammar and say that it was a comma splice. They suggested that I should've written it one of the following ways:

• I'm quite dead. I assure you.

• I'm quite dead; I assure you.

Their reasoning was that it's two main clauses not joined by a conjunction. I see where they are coming from, but it also looked strange to me because what I meant was:

• I assure you (that) I'm quite dead.

I simply inverted it. The "that" is implied. Does inverting the sentence affect punctuation? Where I might have put no punctuation otherwise, is punctuation now required? If so, is a comma sufficient or is either a semicolon or period required? Which would be the proper way to write such sentences?

A. I'm quite dead I assure you.

B. I'm quite dead, I assure you.

C. I'm quite dead; I assure you.

D. I'm quite dead. I assure you.