author
James Witt Sewell
1865–1955
Best remembered for co-authoring a widely used English grammar, this Tennessee teacher wrote with a practical, classroom-centered eye. His work helped generations of students and teachers approach English with clarity instead of fuss.
1 Audiobook
An English Grammar
by William Malone Baskervill, James Witt Sewell
About the author
James Witt Sewell (1865–1955) was an American writer and teacher of English. Reliable sources identify him with Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville, Tennessee, where he taught the language he also wrote about.
He is most closely associated with An English Grammar, written with William Malone Baskervill, a book intended for high school, academy, and college students. The surviving record around him is fairly brief, but it shows a career centered on explaining English clearly and usefully for learners.
Although he is not a widely documented literary figure today, Sewell remains of interest through the durability of his educational writing, especially in the long afterlife of public-domain grammar texts.