What Is Sentence Case? - Explanation & Examples

Sentence case is a capitalization style where only the first word of a heading or title is capitalized, while all other words are lowercase except for proper nouns.

Key points about sentence case:

The initial word receives a capital letter
All subsequent words are lowercase unless they are proper nouns (names of people, places, etc.)
Proper nouns are always capitalized, even if not the first word
Used frequently for lower-level section headings within documents
Enhances readability for headings embedded within body text

Compared to Title Case, which capitalizes all principal words, sentence case has a lower profile that blends more seamlessly into running text when used for subheadings. Many style guides recommend using sentence cases for tertiary headings and below to avoid disrupting the reading flow with too many capital letters.

However, some conventions prefer applying sentence cases to all heading levels for simplicity and parallel structure. The MLA style is one example. The consistency of only capitalizing the first word and proper nouns lends sentence case a refined, understated formality well-suited for academic writing headings and titles.

How to use sentence case

When using the sentence case capitalization style for headings and titles in academic writing, follow these guidelines:

Capitalize the first word
Lowercase all other words except for proper nouns
Capitalize proper noun names (people, places, organizations, etc.)

Example

The secret to baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
The secret to baking the perfect Toll House chocolate chip cookie.

In this example, “Toll House” is capitalized as a proper noun (referring to the brand name), while the rest of the words are in lowercase, following the sentence case formatting.

Sentence case vs. title case

Sentence case capitalizes only the first word, while the rest are lowercase (except for proper nouns). It’s used for regular sentences and paragraphs. The title case capitalizes the first letter of most major words (nouns, verbs, adjectives), while minor words (articles, prepositions) are kept lowercase. Title case is commonly used for titles, headings, and certain documents.

The main distinction is that sentence case has minimal capitalization, while title case capitalizes the important words to create a more formal, elevated style. Here are the key differences explained in a table:

Characteristic	Sentence Case	Title Case
Capitalization of the first word	Capitalized	Capitalized
Capitalization of main words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)	Lowercase (except for proper nouns)	Capitalized
Capitalization of smaller words (the, a, and, etc.)	Lowercase	Usually lowercase
Common usage	Regular sentences and paragraphs	Titles, headings, certain document names
Example	The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.	The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog

When to use sentence case

Organizational style guides often dictate the capitalization standards to follow. When writing academic or professional documents, it’s important to check the required style guide. In APA style, sentence case is the standard for citations and references, even if the original work used a title case. However, titles mentioned within the main text should be formatted in the title case.

Beyond academic contexts, sentence case is commonly used for:

Regular sentences and paragraphs
Captions, figure labels, and list items
Subheadings and subtitles
Web navigation menus and links

The key benefit of sentence case is its clean, readable style that avoids drawing excessive attention to capitalization. It’s a versatile choice for general writing and formatting needs.

Example: Sentence case and title case in APA style

Here is an example demonstrating the use of sentence case and title case in APA style:

In the reference list: Smith, J. (2022). the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Journal of Animal Behavior, 15(2), 123-145.
In the body of the text: According to a recent study in the Journal of Animal Behavior, “The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog” (Smith, 2022).

In the reference list, the article title uses sentence case (“the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”). However, when the article is cited within the body of the text, the title is formatted in the title case (“The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog”).

This is in line with APA style guidelines, which stipulate:

Sentence case for references in the reference list
Title case for in-text citations of published works

Sentence case examples

Here are some examples illustrating the basic guidelines for using sentence case capitalization.

Example	Correct	Incorrect
1	I’m learning Python for my computer science class.	I’m learning Python for my computer science class.
2	The new iPhone has impressive camera capabilities.	The new iPhone has impressive camera capabilities.
3	My favorite TED Talk was about sustainable energy.	My favorite TED Talk was about sustainable energy.
4	The United Nations plays a vital role in global diplomacy.	The United Nations plays a vital role in global diplomacy.
5	Reading War and Peace is on my bucket list.	Reading War and Peace is on my bucket list.
6	Let’s meet at the Empire State Building at noon.	Let’s meet at the Empire State Building at noon.

Sentence case converter

A sentence case converter is a tool that takes text formatted in various capitalization styles and converts it to the standard sentence case format. Sentence case is a writing style where only the first word of a sentence is capitalized, while all other words are in lowercase (except for proper nouns).

Here’s how the sentence case converter works:

Input text: The user provides the text they want to convert, which can be in various capitalization styles – all uppercase, all lowercase, title case, etc.
Capitalization analysis: The converter examines the capitalization of each word in the input text. It identifies:

The first word, which should be capitalized
Proper nouns, which should also be capitalized
All other words, which should be in lowercase

Conversion to sentence case: Based on the analysis, the converter reformats the input text to follow the sentence case conventions:

Capitalizes the first letter of the first word
Converts all other words to lowercase, except for proper nouns

Output text: The converted text, now in proper sentence case format, is presented to the user.

For example, if the input text is:

THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG.

The sentence case converter would analyze the capitalization and then output:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

In this conversion:

“The” is capitalized as the first word of the sentence
“quick,” “brown,” “fox,” “jumps,” “over,” “the,” and “lazy” are converted to lowercase
“Dog” remains capitalized as a proper noun

Sentence case in Excel

To convert text to sentence case in Excel, you can use the PROPER() function. Here’s how it works:

Select the cell(s) containing the text you want to convert.
In a new cell, enter the formula: =PROPER(A1) (Replace A1 with the reference to the cell containing the text)
Press Enter, and the text will be converted to sentence case.

For example, if cell A1 contains the text “THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG.”, the formula =PROPER(A1) will output:

“The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog.”

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