Sentence:  Mr. Blatz had <WSD>been</WSD> at least sober enough to remember to telephone and he turned out to be the greatest boon that had come into Mr. Crombie 's life since he moved to Highfield , in spite of the fact that he did n't work very fast or very long at a time , and he did n't like to work at all unless Mr. Crombie hung around and talked to him . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)