Sentence:  They had <WSD>been</WSD> kind to us and we were indebted to them for one or two pleasant dinners , and for information as to where to shop , which dentist , doctor , plumber , and sitter to call ( not that there was much of a choice , since Catatonia was just a village ; the yellow pages of the telephone book were amazingly thin ) . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)