**Rule: 'The' is used before nationalities to refer to the people of a country.** 'The English' refers to the people of England, and 'The Germans' refers to the people of Germany. When used in this way, these nouns are plural. Options (b), (c), and (d) are incorrect as they fail to use the definite article to denote the nationality as a group.

**Rule: The indefinite article 'a' is used with collective numeral expressions.** Expressions like 'a dozen', 'a hundred', 'a thousand', 'a couple' use the article 'a' before them. 'Dozen' starts with a consonant sound. Option (b) is incorrect due to the sound. Option (c) would imply a specific dozen. Option (d) is grammatically incorrect.

**Rule: The structure 'the + comparative..., the + comparative...' is used to show parallel increase or decrease.** This is a special construction in English where 'the' is used with comparative adjectives or adverbs to show that two things change together in a proportional way. Options (b), (c), and (d) do not follow this grammatical structure.

**Rule: Article choice for abbreviations depends on their pronunciation.** The abbreviation 'MP' is pronounced 'em-pee', which starts with a vowel sound. Therefore, 'an' is the correct article. Option (a) is incorrect as it's used for consonant sounds. Option (c) would be incorrect when stating a profession for the first time. Option (d) is wrong because a singular profession requires an article.

**Rule: Use 'an' for singular countable nouns starting with a vowel sound to make a general statement about a class.** 'Honest' starts with a silent 'h', so it has a vowel sound. The sentence makes a general statement about any honest man. 'An honest man' represents the entire class of honest men. Option (a) is incorrect because of the vowel sound. Option (c) would imply a specific honest man. Option (d) is incorrect as the singular countable noun 'man' requires an article.

**Rule: No article is used for places like prison, church, hospital, school when they are visited or used for their primary purpose.** The primary purpose of a prison is incarceration. Since he was sent there for theft (the primary purpose), no article is used. If someone visits the prison for a different reason (e.g., 'I went to the prison to visit my brother'), 'the' would be used to refer to the building itself. Options (a), (b), and (c) are incorrect in this context.

**Rule: The definite article 'the' is used before superlative adjectives.** 'Best' is the superlative form of the adjective 'good'. Superlatives single out one item from a group and are therefore definite, requiring 'the'. Options (a), (b), and (d) are incorrect.

**Rule: The definite article 'the' is used before the names of oceans, seas, rivers, and gulfs.** 'Pacific Ocean' is the name of a specific ocean. Therefore, 'the' is required. Options (a), (c), and (d) are incorrect according to this rule.

**Rule: Use 'an' before words with a silent 'h'.** The word 'hour' begins with the letter 'h', but it is silent. The word is pronounced starting with a vowel sound ('our'), so the article 'an' is required. Option (a) is incorrect because 'a' is used before consonant sounds. Option (b) would imply a specific, previously mentioned hour. Option (d) is incorrect as 'hour' is a singular countable noun and needs an article.

**Rule: No article is used before the names of single mountains or peaks.** While 'the' is used for mountain ranges (like the Himalayas), it is not used for individual peaks like Mount Everest, K2, or Mount Fuji. The second part of the sentence correctly uses 'the' before the superlative 'highest peak'. The question only asks for the article before 'Mount Everest'. Therefore, no article is the correct choice. Options (a), (b), and (c) are all incorrect.