can 'the oldest' be used without a noun?

[Vladimir]

Hi,

Doing a grammar exercise the other day I found the following sentence:

The newspaper has now dropped its claim to be the oldest in Scotland.

Please, tell me why 'the' is used with 'oldest' here? I know that we can use it when we talk about a member of a family.

She's got three sons.The oldest is 14.

I was taught to use 'the' or 'a' with nouns only.

Thank you.Vladimir.

[Alan]

Hi Vladimir,

In your sentence 'the oldest' means 'the oldest one' and that is acceptable. It's the same with other superlatives as in: There are many supermarkets but if you want the best go to **** ...If you want to test your knowledge I suggest you try these exercises because they are the hardest and it's no good doing those as they are the easiest.

Alan
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[Vladimir]

Thank you, Alan.Your explanation is the clearest I've ever read.

Vladimir.