Sentence:  Times Square , when I ascended to it with my fellow subway travellers ( all dressed as if for a huge wedding in a family of which we <WSD>were</WSD> all distant members ) , was nearly impassable , the sidewalks swarming with celebrants , with bundled up sailors and soldiers already hugging their girls and their rationed bottles of whiskey . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)