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How can you tell the type of verb complement clause without the accompanying
particle? と marks statement clauses or direct quotations and か marks question
clauses according to my copy of [Practice Makes Perfect Complete Japanese
Grammar](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0071808353).

Yet what defines which clause is which type?

In the given examples, ビルさんは日本語は簡単だと言いました. The statement clause should be
ビルさんは日本語は簡単だ, with the subject being ビルさん and object being 日本語 with the verb
being 簡単だ? And the whole clause acts as a direct object for the verb 言い marked
by the statement particle と?

Yet in an example for a question clause, マイクさんはだれが来るか知りません(Mike does not know
who will come). How is this a question clause (マイクさんはだれが来る) other than it's
been marked by a か? Then the entire sentence is a statement, declaring
Mike'slack of information on who's coming, is it because the clause is
inquiring "who will come"?

Am I mistaken by deciding which particle to use based on the given clause
alone, by observing the structure and meaning of the clause, but instead I
should decide contextually with the sentence itself?

In a practice question later, このレストランが一番おいしい（か、かどうか、と）思いますか。 should be
translated to "Do you think this restaurant is most delicious?". The given
answer is **と**? Wouldn't that mark the clause (このレストランが一番おいしい) as a statement
clause? What's wrong with using か, marking it as a question clause or かどうか
marking it as a yes/no question, given you can only answer yes or no for a
superlative question?

Are these three sentences grammatically or contextually different?

  * このレストランが一番おいしい **と** 思いますか。 Statement clause, stating the restaurant is most delicious and asking if *you* agree with the statement?
  * このレストランが一番おいしい **か** 思いますか。 Question clause, asking *you* if the restaurant is the most delicious as a question sentence?
  * このレストランが一番おいしい **かどうか** 思いますか。 Question clause, as a yes/no question, asking *you* if the restaurant as "yes it is the most delicious" or "no it is not the most delicious" question?

Can all three of them be translated to "Do you think this restaurant is most
delicious?"?
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question
translation particles particle-と particle-か clause-pattern
Verb complement clause type and clause structure?
In ビルさんは日本語は簡単だ **と** 言いました, Bill is the one who said “Japanese is easy.” The
statement clause is 日本語は簡単だ. (By the way, 簡単だ is not a verb but an adjective.)

Similarly, Mike is the one who doesn’t know who will come in マイクさんはだれが来る **か**
知りません. The original clause だれが来る is a question because it contains a question
word だれ.

と is the only correct choice in the practice question. か doesn’t work because
the original clause このレストランが一番おいしい is not a question but a statement. かどうか is
not used with 思います. “Do you think **whether** this restaurant is the most
delicious?” must sound strange in English, too.

* * *

[EDIT]

My explanation in the last paragraph above was misleading. か doesn’t work for
the same reason かどうか doesn’t work. It’s because the verb of the main clause is
思う. Even if the subordinate clause were どのレストランが一番おいしいですか, which is clearly a
question, the correct answer would still be と, making the final sentence
どのレストランが一番おいしい **と** 思いますか.
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answer