Sentence:  As long as her development within her shell lived up to expectations , and there <WSD>were</WSD> no side-effects from the pituitary tinkering , Helva would live a rewarding , rich and unusual life , a far cry from what she would have faced as an ordinary , `` normal '' being . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  happen, occur, take place; this was during the visit to my parents' house"