Or is this correct "version N and prior"?
Mainly, I'm asking about this because in
version N and prior
I think that "versions" are implied by prior, hence one would read it as
version N and [versions] prior
while in the first example
versions N and prior
the usage of "versions" is incorrect since after this we have direct one version.
First example could be corrected to
versions: X and prior
however, without ":" it looks incorrect to me.
Thanks for your help.
Best Answer
I think either usage would be correct, but I would lean towards "versions" for clarity.
Another example is this:
Suppose you had four boxes, marked A, B, C and D. Two of the boxes contain prizes, the other two are empty. You might say
or
In each case you are referring to a group of boxes, so you would use the plural form of box.
You could read
as
The word versions is implied in this case. This may be idiomatic rather than strictly grammatical, but I think the reader would understand.
Regarding the colon, it wouldn't be correct to use it within a sentence, but would be fine in a list.