Is It Better to Use 'a Staircase' or 'the Staircase' in This Example, and Why?

Question

In the below example, which exists in the context of a piece of fiction writing (made up for this question), is it better to use 'a' (the indefinite article) or 'the' (the definite article) with 'staircase leading to the floor above'?

For further context, in this building, there's only one staircase that leads to the upper floor, and the main character (and the reader) are not familiar with the building in any way; they've only just encountered it.

In front of Jack was a large building. He entered through the front door and made his way toward a/the staircase leading to the floor above.

The reason I'm unsure is that I, the writer, know there's only one staircase that leads to the upper floor, but the reader doesn't. I don't want to give the impression there are other staircases elsewhere, but I also don't want to imply that the reader should know there's just one. The use of the reduced relative clause 'leading to the floor above' restricts the identity of the noun phrase, but I'm not sure if this is sufficient to identify it for the reader.

Any justification to explain your preference would be extremely helpful.

Answer 1

If I could not describe better what Jack saw, for pacing reasons, I would write:

Before Jack was a large building. Entering through the front door he spotted a staircase on the left and took that to the second floor.

There is little point in saying "made his way" if there are no obstacles between him and the staircase, like benches or people wandering about, and you described none.

If you are not going to describe what Jack is seeing, make the transition to the next scene as brief as possible.

This construction leaves open the possibility of other staircases in the building, but Jack doesn't care. This one was all he needed. Typically multi-story buildings will have fire escape stairs behind labeled doors; an exposed staircase in a building lobby would most likely not be the only staircase.

Answer 2

Protagonist

I, the writer, know there's only one staircase that leads to the upper floor, but the reader doesn't.

The writer, and the reader, are not the protagonist. Jack is.

Jack is experiencing this. We are limited to Jack's 3rd-person POV. If he can't see another staircase, and he is not currently worried about an alternate staircase (which the person he is pursuing might use to escape), then narratively there is only one staircase.

Answer 3

I lean towards "the," although I think either is fine. "The staircase that leads to the floor above" specifies a particular staircase, and thus implies the definite article. It also distinguishes the staircase from possible other staircases that lead elsewhere, such as one that leads to the basement.

Answer 4

As one Dutch guy explained to me back in the 1990's, "the" means "this", while "a" means "any". This hint allows me to choose the proper article.

Answer 5

If Jack hasn't entered the building before and hasn't seen the staircase before, the correct word(letter?) would be 'a'.

Answer 6

The narrator is most likely omniscient. In this case, the narrator knows that there is only one staircase leading to the floor above, so they would probably use "the". It may also be acceptable to use "a", but I would prefer "the".

If the narrator was not omnisient, for example it was Jack's friend Bob, then they would use whatever word they believe is most appropriate based on what they know or believe or assume to be the case.

It doesn't matter what the reader knows.

Suppose you had no idea of what your surroundings were, and you had your eyes closed. In this case, I could say "Look at the sheep", if I wanted you to look at the specific sheep that I knew was there. Alternatively, I could say "Look at a sheep", if I just wanted you to look at any sheep. It doesn't matter that you don't know what your surroundings are, I can use either phrase to convey whichever meaning I want.

After all, the speaker doesn't always know what the person listening knows, so they can't reliably change their speech to adjust for that fact.

Edit: my confidence in this answer has decreased, after realising that "He came across a monster. The monster spoke to him." Is more natural than another choice of articles, even though the narrator clearly knows that there is one monster, and to him, it is clear what monster he is talking about, which is something that my explanation fails to take into account. In this case, what matters isn't so much what the speaker knows or what the listener knows, but rather whether or not it is clear that the speaker is referring to. Because it is initially unclear what monster the speaker is referring to, initially "a" is used, but later, it is clear what monster the speaker is referring to, so "the" is used.

I have spent too long thinking about this and don't want to spend more time thinking about it, and am not confident that my answer is perfect, but also believe that my answer has potentially valuable information that I don't want to delete.

Edit: I just found out that the difference between the definite article in English and the specific article in Samoan is that the definite article in English cares about whether the listener would be expected to know which specific referents are intended, whereas the specific article in Samoan only cares about whether the the speaker has a specific referent in mind. So I suppose it does matter what the listener is expected to be able to know, after all.