Sentence Case: Definition and Usage Guidelines

Sentence case means capitalizing only the first letter of the first word in a sentence or title, and using lowercase for the rest, with exceptions for proper nouns. It's the standard capitalization style used for most sentences and, often, headlines and titles in publications. 

Basic Rule

In sentence case, the first letter of the first word in a sentence or title is capitalized, and all other letters are lowercase, except for proper nouns.

Proper Nouns:

Proper nouns, like names of people, places, organizations, and specific things, are always capitalized in sentence case.

Examples

• “The dog chased the ball across the yard.”
• “I visited Paris last summer. It was an amazing experience.”

Usage

• Common contexts : It is widely used in various forms of writing, such as in articles, essays, emails, and general prose. This style gives a clean and straightforward look to the text and is easy to read, which is why it's considered appropriate for most formal and informal written communication.
• Advantages : It helps to clearly mark the start of each sentence, making the text more readable and organized. It also follows a widely - accepted convention, so readers are accustomed to this style and can quickly understand the structure of the text.

In contrast to other capitalization styles like “Title Case” (where major words in a title are capitalized), “ALL CAPS” (all letters in uppercase), or “lowercase” (no uppercase letters except for proper nouns and sentence - starting letters when required), “Sentence case” provides a balanced and standard way of presenting written information.

To ensure consistent application of these rules, consider using a sentence case converter tool for efficient formatting and verification.​