Lower Case

Lower case means having as its typical form a, b, c rather than A, B, C : not capital. It is the direct opposite of upper case.

Basic letter punctuation

The English alphabet has lowercase (abc…) and uppercase (ABC...) versions of all 26 letters. Lowercase letters are also known, colloquially, as small letters. Uppercase resembles capital letters, while lower case is the direct opposite.

In English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and most other European languages, lowercase letters account for the majority of texts. Within the body paragraphs of a given chapter or text document, the only letters not in lowercase are the first letters in each sentence and proper noun. 

The only parts of texts where lowercase letters don't reign supreme are titles and subheadings, where most words—aside from coordinating conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or less—are capitalized. In some cases, titles and even subheadings are all in caps.

Lowercase letters range in shape from wide (w, m) and thin (i, l) to short (a, n) and tall (b, h); some even extend below the baseline of text (g, y). As such, lowercase letters are more distinctive on a subconscious level than caps. Studies have even shown that, at quick glance, word-shape is just as important as letters when it comes to identifying words. For these reasons and more, lowercase is the preferred typeset for a vast majority of textual contents. 

Examples of lower case letters

Barring the presence of acronyms, proper nouns, or the first-person pronoun "I", lowercase letters should always be used in sentences following the first letter of the first word:

He went to the store with a dollar in hand, hoping it could buy him three donuts, two sticks of gum, and a dirty magazine.

Jane has been getting much more attention from men since she ditched the cardigans and flip flops and started wearing skirt suits and pantyhose.

Lowercase letters should not appear at the start of names, places, titles, and trademarked products:

Jason and Ian got lost on Saturday in Forest Park up in the West Hills area of Portland, Oregon, but occupied themselves with Snickers bars and issues of The Amazing Spider-Man.

When Zowie ran away from home in December, 1987, he stayed out on SE Hawthorne, shopped at the nearby Fred Meyers, and went dancing at the City Nightclub.

Lowercase letters should not appear in acronyms or at the start of honorifics and job titles:

Ford Cummings Jr. has been named CEO at Telekon Web Solutions after serving as the company's CFO for the past five years. Larry Cowell III, VP of Communications for Bezerker Software, will be standing in as CFO until Telekon finds a permanent replacement.

Texts written mainly in lower case

For various reasons, texts that are mostly in lowercase are generally considered easier to read than texts in all caps. Not only are smaller letters easier to identify by shape; they require less traveling of the eye from one line of text to another. When it comes to handwriting, the design of the lowercase alphabet makes it more optimal for letter-to-letter hand-flow; especially when writing in cursive. Furthermore, lowercase is the first version of the alphabet that children learn to read and write. 

Since the 2000s, various brands have emerged with names in all lowercase, particularly in the online world. Aside from gaining a unique marketing edge with unorthodox spelling, brands are omitting caps to maximize hits from web surfers, many of whom enter search-strings in all lowercase. Two of the most prominent examples of the lowercase corporate-naming trend are eBay and flickr. Other companies have also adopted lowercase for certain logos and media, including citibank, macy's, and intel.