The verb phrase usually follows the subject and tells you what the subject is doing. The phrase "was attending" tells you what the president of the company is doing. The verb phrase contains the action verb "attending" and the helping verb "was". A noun clause is a dependent clause that acts as a noun. An adjectival phrase describes a noun such as "the mandatory sales" describes the type of meeting. An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions as an adverb.