make specs less noisy to read by using declarative expectations

[mindreframer]

problem:

• specs are a bit hard to read

solution:

• use fails / passes methods to indicate desired expectation
• specs become more declarative and descriptive
• the changes are of mechanical nature, no new logic is introduced

[egonSchiele]

Nice, lgtm. You need to add a blank line, I will merge this after that.