Didn't anyone make it clear they expected the supervisor to resign?
They did.
But it seems to have made impression on the man.
From a grammatical point of view, the anaphoric the plus general noun
functions like an anaphoric reference item.
The man, him.
The definite article has no content and,
thus, it cannot specify anything on its own.
It serves to identify a particular individual or
subclass within the class design designated by the noun but
it does this only through dependents on something else.
The definite article creates a cohesive link between
the sentence in which it occurs and the referential information.
It does not contain that information in itself, and it does not say where
the information is located, its only function is to signal definiteness.
The third type of referential cohesion is comparative.
Comparative reference is expressed through adjectives and adverbs, and
serves to compare items within an attack in terms of identity or similarity.
Ellipsis, as well as a need for it because they're understood from the context, for
example, John can type and I can too.