Beginning with the music and dance of

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Beginning with the music and dance of the [color=red]antebellum plantation, jazz, born from a slave culture, would eventually spawn a musical industry that African musicians would dominate for years to come.

  1. What does “would” suggest? Can I use here “could”?
  2. What does the “antebellum plantation” mean here?

Among contemporary writers of fiction, Mrs. Woolf is a curious figure, in some ways as radical as James Joyce, in others no more modern than Jane Austen.

  1. Can I use “in other ways” instead of “in others”?
2
  1. No, ‘could’ is not appropriate. This is what actually happened.

Definition 12 in the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary

used for talking about things that often happened in the past
SYNONYM used to
When my parents were away, my grandmother would take care of me.
He’d always be the first to offer to help.

  1. A plantation which existed before a particular war (usually the American Civil War)

3, yes, though it is not necessary and excluding it avoids repetition.

3

Hi Bev,

I have to disagree with you over your explanation of the meaning of ‘would’ in this sentence offered by SC -

I don’t see this as an example of ‘would’ to suggest ‘used to’. In the sentence quoted there isn’t the idea of a repeated action. To my mind this is more an example of ‘Future in the Past’ and conveys the idea of ‘was going to’.

Alan

4

You’re right.

5

Does the sentence signal whether Mr. Jazz did spawn or not? I think since “would” is used here so it is not certain whether Mr. Jazz did spawn or not. Am I correct?

6

You seem to be misinterpreting the meaning.

‘jazz’ is not a person. It is a musical genre.
‘spawn’ = generate.

Jazz music would generate a musical industry.
There is absolutely no doubt here that it did.