When is it appropriate to use 'the' instead of a possessive determiner?
I was with someone today and we were talking about a woman, and she said:
"Wow, the husband must be so proud."
I was confused as to which was correct or more appropriate as opposed to:
"Wow, her husband must be so proud."
Solution 1:
Both are grammatically correct. "The" is much less common and might have a negative connotation based on "the wife." However, the somewhat condescending "the wife" or "the husband" seems to be used in place of "my wife" or "my husband," which is different from the example you heard, where "the" is replacing "her."