Question

Use an appropriate article:
We had dinner in _____ most expensive restaurant in town.
(a) a
(b) an
(c) the
(d) no article

Answer 1

Hint: Looking at the sentence, we can understand that the author is talking about one particular restaurant. The superlative degree of the word “expensive”, that is “most expensive”, has also been used which shows that they are referring to a certain restaurant.

Complete answer:
Articles are of three types- a, an, the. “A” is used before words that start with a consonant, “an” is used before words beginning with a vowel, and “the” is used when we have to refer to something particular, mainly proper nouns. “A” and “an” are used for things that are numerous in number while “the” is used for pinpointing a certain object/thing.
Superlative degrees are the highest of the three degrees of comparison- positive, comparative, and superlative. We use a superlative degree when we have to refer to the highest degree/quality of something.
(a) a- “A” is used for things which are many in number and there is nothing special about the thing you are referring to.
I wrote with a pen.- Refers to any pen.
(b) an- “An” also functions like “a”, that is, it is used to refer to things which are many in number. The difference is it is used before words which begin with a vowel.
Please lend me an eraser.- Refers to any eraser.
(c) the- “The” is used before things which are very specific and you want to particularly point that thing out.
I want the chocolate which I had last week.- Refers to particular chocolate which I had last week and I want that very chocolate. If you bring me any other chocolate, I won’t eat it.
Similarly, in the given sentence, the author is talking about the most expensive restaurant in town. So he is talking about one particular restaurant which charges the highest price for the items. Also, when we use “most”, we are using a superlative degree, that is, there is nothing above that. When we use “most”, we use the article “the” because it is an adjective (expensive) qualifying a noun (restaurant).
(d) no article- An article needs to be used here because they usually clarify the meaning of the noun used. When we use “a pen”, we mean any pen. When we use “the pen”, we mean a particular pen.
The correct answer is option (c)- We had dinner in the most expensive restaurant in town.

Note:
 If you are confused about an answer, for example, you think “clean” could be the opposite of “nasty”, think to yourself, “What is the opposite of clean?”. If there is a more direct answer, for example, “dirty” is the opposite of clean, you know it is not the right answer since there is a more appropriate opposite of the word.