def shortener(message: str) -> str:
    message_length = len(message)

    # if the message is already short enough, just return it
    if message_length <= 160:
        return message

    # splitting the string up into its words tells us the amount of spaces
    # also easier to manipulate later on
    message_words = message.split()
    number_of_spaces = len(message_words) - 1

    idx = len(message_words) - 1
    # if there are no spaces to remove, or the message is still too long, loop
    while number_of_spaces > 0 and message_length > 160:
        # make the first letter of the word uppercase, leave the rest unchanged
        message_words[idx] = message_words[idx][0].upper() + message_words[idx][1:]
        idx -= 1
        number_of_spaces -= 1
        message_length -= 1

    # after the while loop, we might be somewhere in the middle of the list if we
    # have more spaces left, but the message is short enough
    # join the left side up until the current index with spaces (they get to stay)
    # join the right side from the current index + 1 without spaces (we removed those)
    output = " ".join(message_words[:idx+1]) + "".join(message_words[idx+1:])

    return output