Monday, November 26, 2018

grammaticality - Is it bad practice to say "a husband and his wife" because of redundancy?

Phrasing like "a husband and his wife" or "a daughter and her father" always irked me, for being a bit redundant. Surely, it is enough to say "man and his wife" (or in the case of same-sex marriages "woman and her wife"), as saying "husband" already includes a relationship with, and existence of, a "wife".



Is it bad practice (or grammatically ill-advised) to say "a husband and his wife"?



Also, is it any better to say "a husband and a wife"? How does "a pet and its owner" fare?






Some examples:





The film ABC features a husband and his wife, on a spiritual journey to master the English language.



A daughter and her father appeared on my doorstep, asking for donations to Wikipedia.


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