Sentence:  Concerning the sentence , Foss wrote , `` If it <WSD>be</WSD> possible that mercy shall override vengeance and that John Brown 's sentence shall be commuted to imprisonment , it would be well - well for the country and for Virginia '' . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)