Sentence Case Explained: 3 Examples of Sentence Case

Sentence case is a capitalization style in which only the first word of a sentence and proper nouns are capitalized, with the rest of the words in lowercase. This mixed-case style is commonly used in prose but can also appear in headlines and titles.

Sentence case and title case are both mixed-case styles—they involve both upper- and lowercase letters. In sentence case, only the first letters of the first word and proper nouns are in uppercase. By contrast, title case has major words in uppercase and minor words in lowercase (unless they are the first or last word of a title). Major words include nouns, adjectives, and verbs, while minor words include short prepositions and articles.

While sentence case is used most commonly in prose, title case is most frequently employed for headings and titles of works such as books, movies, papers, paintings, etc. News headlines employ both sentence case and title case for headings, depending on the publication. While sentence case use remains consistent across styles, there may be a variation as to what is capitalized in title case, depending on the style guide—AP, APA, and Chicago Manual of Style all have their own rules.

Sentence case is typical for prose sentences in English, and it is also used in a few specific instances for title capitalization and headings.

• Standard sentence style: Most styles of written English use sentence case in the body of any work. This involves capitalizing the first letter of the first word and the first letter of any proper nouns.
• Newspapers: Different publications have different house styles when it comes to headline capitalization. The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post all use sentence case for headlines. Other publications, like The New York Times, use title case for headlines.
• Reference lists in APA style: In APA style, titles referenced within the prose of a piece are written in typical title case. However, in reference lists at the end of the piece, such as a bibliography, the titles are written in sentence case.
• Heading levels three, four, and five in APA style: APA style uses five heading levels, with the first and second being the standard title case for titles and subtitles. Heading levels three, four, and five all use sentence case.

Sentence case always includes capitalizing the first letter of the first word and the first letter of any proper nouns. Consider the following examples of sentence case capitalization:

1. 1. “There is rain in the forecast this week in New York City.” In this sentence, the first word and New York City, a proper noun, are capitalized.
2. 2. “The film will premiere on the last weekend of November.” Here, the first word of the sentence and the month of November, a proper noun, are capitalized.
3. 3. “The effects of global warming push European leaders to find alternatives to fossil fuels.” In this sentence case headline, the first word and “European,” a proper noun, are capitalized.

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