Sentence case capitalises a heading or paragraph the way you would write an ordinary sentence: the first word starts with a capital letter, proper nouns keep theirs, and everything else is lowercase. It is the recommended style for headings in GOV.UK and many corporate style guides, for article titles in APA reference lists, and for most user-interface text, because it is easier to read than text where every word is capitalised.
The converter is also the quickest repair for text that was typed with Caps Lock on or pasted from a source that shouts in capitals. It lowercases everything, then capitalises the first letter after each full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or line break, and turns the lone pronoun “i” (including “i’m”, “i’ll”) into “I”.
What software cannot know is which words are proper nouns. Names like Friday, London or Microsoft will come out lowercase and need a quick manual fix – or choose “keep ALL-CAPS words” to protect acronyms such as NASA and Q3 that were already in capitals.
How to use the Sentence Case Converter
- Text to convert
- Case type
- Title case style guide
- Keep words already in ALL CAPS (NASA, Q3)?
Everything is calculated in your browser, so results appear instantly and nothing you type is sent to a server.
How it works
All letters are converted to lowercase (optionally skipping words that are entirely in capitals), then the first letter of the text, of each line and of each word following sentence-ending punctuation is capitalised, along with the pronoun I.
Worked example
“THE MEETING IS MOVED TO FRIDAY. please bring the report and i will bring coffee!” becomes “The meeting is moved to friday. Please bring the report and I will bring coffee!” Two sentence starts were capitalised, “i” became “I”, and you only need to restore the capital F of Friday.
Sentence case vs title case in headings
| Style | Heading |
|---|---|
| Sentence case | How to write a great cover letter |
| Title case | How to Write a Great Cover Letter |
| Capital case | How To Write A Great Cover Letter |
Formula
Sentence case: all letters → lowercase, then first letter after the start, after . ! ? and after a line break → uppercase; standalone “i” → “I”
Worked example
Inputs — Text to convert: THE MEETING IS MOVED TO FRIDAY. please bring the report and i will bring coffee!; Case type: Sentence case; Keep words already in ALL CAPS (NASA, Q3)?: No – lowercase everything first.
Results — Converted text = The meeting is moved to friday. Please bring the report and I will bring coffee!; Your title in every style guide = Style Title (first line)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
AP The Meeting Is Moved to Friday. Please Bring the Report and I Will Bring Coffee!
APA The Meeting Is Moved to Friday. Please Bring the Report and I Will Bring Coffee!
Chicago The Meeting Is Moved to Friday. Please Bring the Report and I Will Bring Coffee!
MLA The Meeting Is Moved to Friday. Please Bring the Report and I Will Bring Coffee!
AMA The Meeting Is Moved to Friday. Please Bring the Report and I Will Bring Coffee!
Bluebook The Meeting Is Moved to Friday. Please Bring the Report and I Will Bring Coffee!
NYT The Meeting Is Moved to Friday. Please Bring the Report and I Will Bring Coffee!; Characters = 80; Words = 15; Characters changed = 26.
Key terms
- Sentence case
- Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalised.
- Proper noun
- The name of a specific person, place, organisation, day or month.
- Down style
- Newspaper term for headlines written in sentence case.
Frequently asked questions
What is sentence case?
Capitalising only the first word of a sentence or heading and proper nouns, e.g. “How to train your dragon”.
When should I use sentence case for headings?
APA uses it for titles of articles and chapters in reference lists; GOV.UK, Microsoft and Google style guides use it for headings and UI text.
Why did “Friday” become “friday”?
The tool cannot recognise proper nouns. Re-capitalise names, days, months and places after converting.
Does it fix Caps Lock text?
Yes – “THIS IS LOUD.” becomes “This is loud.”
Does it capitalise after a question mark?
Yes, after ., ! ? and … followed by a space, and at the start of every new line.
Is sentence case better for accessibility?
Generally yes: mixed-case text is easier to read than all caps, and screen readers may spell out words written in capitals.
What happens to “i'm”?
It becomes “I'm”; the pronoun I is always capitalised in English.