Grammar : Omission of 'The' in Superlative

These two examples are from the Reading Street 2.1 Notebook :

The mouse is smallest of the three.
Henry's father is tallest of the three.

My question is, does omitting the noun after the superlative adjective render the definite article 'the' unnecessary? I have checked other sites, can't find a clear answer and am interested in your advice. Thanks.

Further note: sorry that my explanation wasn't clear; please refer to the explanation of the question by contributor Multitudinous (fifth response) below. The examples however, are 'sprung' on readers without prior qualification. Thank you,

 

I'm not sure what part of each sentence you'd be omitting?

 

These are probably technically correct but sound awful. I think the "the" should be in there.

 

I'm still confused...is this a question asking if the sentences should be:


The mouse is thesmallest of the three.
Henry's father is thetallest of the three.

 

czacza, I believe DavidGS is contrasting the examples he cited with something like these

(a) The mouse is the smallest one of the three.
(b) Henry's father is the tallest one of the three.​

or perhaps these

(a') The mouse is the smallest of the three mice.
(b') Henry's father is the tallest of the three fathers.​

and wondering whether it is omission of "one" in (a, b) or the noun after "three" in (a', b') that licenses the absence of "the" in the original versions.

I'm with msufan, DavidGS: for American English at least, the answer is no. The only circumstance I can think of in which omitting the definite article works is when the comparison is fronted:

(a'') Smallest of the three is the mouse.
(b'') Tallest of the three is Henry's father.​

but that usage is either indicating a contrast that I don't think is intended here or literary to the point of being precious.

Worse, a comparison is intended - but to what is unclear.

 

My understanding:
Use the definitive article (the) if it is a part of the noun phrase.
e.g. The mouse is the smallest animal in the barn.

Otherwise, it is a style issue and both considered grammatically correct.
e.g. The mouse is the smallest of the three. The mouse is smallest of the three.

 

I think omitting "the" really only works, though, in context: whatever 'the three' are, they had darned well better have been introduced before a sentence like this is sprung on an innocent reader.

 

Agree.

 

One's inner ear picks up the tones of Strunk & White, declaring that the writer's responsibility is not to leave the poor reader floundering in a swamp but rather to get him up on dry land, or at least throw him a rope. They're absolutely correct, of course.