Constant Content

What is the correct way to use "versus" in a title?
VS
vs.
Vs.
Versus
versus

The abbreviation looks too casual for a title, to me. Anyone know the rule?

AP Style Guide says:
Spell it out in ordinary speech and writing. . . In short expressions vs. is permitted. . . For court cases, use v. as in Marbury v. Madison.

Doesn't exactly address titles though. I think I would use versus in the title and vs. in any subheadings.

For example, title:
The Story of the Ages: Women versus Men

Subheading:
Girls vs. Boys

Rule #8 on http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp says that prepositions should not be capitalized in titles regardless of their length. Therefore, I'd go with lowercase versus in the title.

Word was trying to tell me that versus should be lowercase in the title, but you know how reliable those little green and red squiggly lines are. (Thin ice in late spring!)
Thanks, Celeste. Glad to know the rule about long prepositions, and I'm grabbing that link.
Emma

Also, from Ed's blog post: "All words of your title, except for conjunctions and prepositions, should be capitalized. Obviously, you capitalize the first word of your title, even if it is included in one of these exceptions. Longer prepositions, like “around,” may also be capitalized."

So, I take it that it would be okay to capitalize "versus."

Hm, I can't think of a single way to start a title with "versus" where it makes sense. Except, perhaps:

Versus Questions: How to Use This Commonly Misunderstood Preposition

Just a bit of fun. Thanks again.

Versus or .vs: When to Use the Short Form of this Odd Little Word
:)

I haven't actually done any digging, but I would have said "vs." would be acceptable in a title. I'm thinking of books I've seen or magazine articles. From an useability standpoint, "vs." seems the most intuitive - people know what it means and are more likely to use the short form than the long word if they were to do a search. But that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong. What would you use in search?

If you do an Amazon.com book search, you'll come up with some cute examples that are so varied they don't help us. I wonder if the authors/publishers of these books put as much thought into it as we are?

Vs.:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?ur ... eywords=vs.
Dinosaur vs. Bedtime!
(Where the period is dropped in other titles, this appears to be a branding issue rather than a stylistic choice. )

Versus:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url ... rds=versus

Unless we come up with a definite answer, I say do what looks/feels right for your title.

Rar,
Ed

I had to look up rar, Ed. (revise as required?) At first I thought you were expressing your inner lion. :)

I think I'm going with vs., based solely on looks. The title is for the New Construction vs. Renovation article (customer typed VS.) I could reword the whole thing and say pros and cons, but right now I'd rather go with something like:

Healthcare Facility Renovation vs. New Construction
or
Renovation vs. New Construction in a Healthcare Setting

Initially I thought versus was the better form for a serious/formal article, especially based on those links Ed provided from Amazon. But it feels a little condescending, and I would use vs. in a search. I did think it interesting that the one book cover with a bold "VS" was written differently in the details - "Versus: Volume 1".

Thanks for all your help (Ed, CS) over this very minor detail.
Emma

I was expressing my inner dinosaur. But bedtime won the round.

That's a good point about the search engine.

In titles, I always go with Vs. As: SSS Vs. TTT Match Canceled. In content, I go naturally with 'vs.'.