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There is a reading exercise in this book I am using to teach. It goes ...

A: Excuse me, is there a post office near here?
B: Yes. There's post office in Jindrisska Street. Turn right a the traffic lights. It's a big building on a corner.

My question is whether there should be a or the in the last sentence: It's a big building or It's the big building?

Dan Bron
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Radek
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  • Please only ask one question at a time. The on/at question is answered by one of our resident professors of English at https://english.stackexchange.com/a/199115/18696. – Andrew Leach Apr 26 '17 at 11:21
  • I cannot see how the other question answered my question..... – Radek Apr 26 '17 at 14:02
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    In that case you need to edit your question to say why it doesn't. The other answers show that the references a specific object ("the big building") and a references one of a set of similar objects ("a big building"). If there is only one big building, it's that one; if there is more than one, it's one of them. Both a and the are equally valid, grammatically (so it could be either), but the choice helps define the meaning of the sentence. – Andrew Leach Apr 26 '17 at 14:56
  • well, your comment is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you – Radek Apr 27 '17 at 15:45

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