“Authorizations will be expired on March 31.”

Verbs

This is a simplification of what I saw yesterday in an email message from a corporation.

Problem:
The transitive form of the verb “expire” is misused here.

Explanation:
Converting this statement from passive voice to active voice, we get the statement “We will expire authorizations on March 31.”

It’s clear in active voice that the statement is using the verb “expire” in transitive form. That is, “expire” takes the direct object “authorizations”.

There is only one non-archaic definition of the transitive form of the verb “expire”: to breathe out.

The statement “She expired one liter of CO2-rich air after holding her breath for a minute.” is a grammatically correct example that uses the transitive form of the verb “expire”.

So it should be clear that the corporation that sent the email message cannot “breathe out” the authorizations.

The corporation wanted to say that the authorizations would come to an end on March 31.

This requires the intransitive form of the verb “expire” (one used without an object), a definition of which is to terminate or come to an end.

Solution:
“Authorizations will expire on March 31.”