There's a rather simple reason this is so: A thought is typically most powerfully expressed in a sentence that puts the most surprising or notable word last, im

There's a rather simple reason this is so: A thought is typically most powerfully expressed in a sentence that puts the most surprising or notable word last, immediately before the period. Ideally, without any qualifying adjective/adverb. And "... a wife." really turns on the ears, no? So advice to prefer active voice is not wrong -- but the skilled writer adds other values into the balance.