sentence case

(noun)

A format in which only the first major word (and any proper noun) is capitalized.

Related Terms

  • title case

Examples of sentence case in the following topics:

  • Making Subject and Verbs Agree

    • Subject-verb agreement assures that verbs match their subjects in case and number.
    • Incorrect sentence: My dog and my cat likes to be petted.
    • Correct sentence: My dog and my cat like to be petted.
    • Most mistakes happen because writers are not paying careful attention to the number and case of their subjects.
    • Recognize subject-verb agreement by paying careful attention to the number and case of the sentence subject.
  • Em-Dashes and En-Dashes

    • Dashes are often used to mark interruptions within sentences.
    • Em dashes are also sometimes used to summarize or define prior information in a sentence.
    • In these cases, there should not be any spaces around the en dash.
    • In these cases, using an en dash is distracting.
    • The title contains an example of em dash usage, which, in this case, shows a break in the sentence.
  • Introduction to Commas

    • The first phrase could not stand on its own as a sentence, but when joined to the independent clause by the comma, the sentence is complete.
    • Note that a dependent clause can come later in the sentence, but in that case, you would not use a comma:
    • In these situations, say the sentence to yourself.
    • In this sentence, "new" and "weird" are nonrestrictive.
    • In other words, if you dropped a restrictive modifier from a sentence, the meaning of the sentence would change.
  • Structure of a Sentence

    • Structural classifications for sentences include simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences.
    • In this case, the subordinate clause, "who eat chocolate cake" is in the middle of the sentence.
    • In looking at the various sentence forms above, you can see that each sentence gives you a different feel.
    • The complex sentence sounds more like a lesson in its "if-then" format, and the compound-complex sentence packs all the information into one conclusive sentence.
    • A declarative sentence, or declaration, is the most common type of sentence.
  • Components of a Sentence

    • Compare and contrast the sentences below:
    • In active-voice sentences, it is the noun or pronoun performing the action in the sentence.
    • in a sentence.
    • In a given sentence, there may be more than one of any of the five core sentence elements.
    • You also have some verbals (leaving, smashing), but in no case is the noun functioning as a subject doing a predicate verb.
  • Approaches to Your Body Paragraphs

    • Like your thesis, each topic sentence is an arguable statement, not a fact.
    • Check, too, to see whether the topic sentence is arguable and clear. 
    • Your concluding sentence will often have an echo of the topic sentence in it while moving the reader forward to the next topic.
    • You might decide to have a concluding sentence and then a transition sentence.
    • In this case, we can presume the paragraph gave evidence that toxins are polluting streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.
  • Step 6: Editing and Proofreading

    • Editing looks at your work on a sentence-by-sentence level, considering ways to make everything you say as clear and precise as possible.
    • If you think a sentence is too complicated, rephrase it so that it is easier to read, or break it into two sentences.
    • Consider the following sentences:
    • In this case, changing from passive to active made a major improvement.
    • Some sentences do read better with them.
  • Overall Structure and Formatting of a Chicago/Turabian Paper

    • In the above sentence, the comma immediately after "Wales" is the Oxford comma.
    • In most cases, the first word after a colon should not be capitalized:
    • However, if what follows a colon is a series of multiple sentences, or a quotation, you do need to capitalize the first word after the colon:
    • If you have a colon in the middle of a sentence, and what follows after is a quotation or multiple sentences, the first word after the colon should be capitalized.
    • However, typewriters, and therefore this practice, are now obsolete—in fact, using two spaces after sentences is now generally frowned upon.
  • Structure of a Sentence

  • Classification of Sentences

Subjects
  • Accounting
  • Algebra
  • Art History
  • Biology
  • Business
  • Calculus
  • Chemistry
  • Communications
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Microbiology
  • Physics
  • Physiology
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Statistics
  • U.S. History
  • World History
  • Writing

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