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I've read that many writers are taught to avoid the passive voice. They must keep their writing active and forceful or they risk losing the reader or seeming uninteresting. And I don't have an objection to the active voice per se, but to the misuse of transitive verbs in an attempt to avoid the passive voice. To my ear, you don't even have to know what a "transitive" or "intransitive" verb is, it just sounds wrong. That should be your clue that it needs rewriting. Some slack can be given to people to whom English is a second language, but, come on, English speakers. [/pet peeve]