有關英文文法

Abel，其實呢句可以咁樣分析的。

"The company I work for isn't doing well this year."

"I work for" 這個部分是用來形容 "The company"，指明是「我工作的那一間公司」，所以整句的主動詞並不是 "work"。

如果把整句刪掉 "I work for"，句子的意思沒變，只是不夠清晰。

"The company isn't doing well this year."
那間公司今年營運得不是很好。

在此你見到主要動詞句是"isn't doing well"。

你問這個問題也是一個好的機會好分析下一些有兩個動詞的句子。
你可以了解整體的意思，就知道那一個才是主動詞。

舉一個例子：
The rabbit that she hates eats a lot of carrots every day.
她討厭的那隻兔子每天也吃很多紅蘿蔔。
你見到主動詞是 eats，而"she hates"這個部份雖然有動詞hates，但只用於形容該兔子。

2013-08-19 00:29:09 補充：
或者我再補充一下：

如果直接答你的問題「isn't doing 是甚麼?」，其實你應該整體地看「isn't doing well」。

”isn't doing well” 是指做得不好、情況欠佳。

可以是指學校的科目，可以是指生意，可以是指身體狀況。

另外，正如各位熱心的回答者一樣，大家也指出了relative clause的用法。
其實如果多讀了不同的英文文章，你會發現有 relative clause 的句子經常出現。
只要看慣了，就會知道哪一句才是主句（有主動詞），哪一句是子句。

努力！

The company I work for isn't doing well this year

我工作的公司 今年生意不太好o

isn't = is not


The company (I work for) isn't doing well this yeaｒ．
I work for = tells us more about which company so it is used as an adjective phrase.

In the analysing of sentence:-
(1)that I worked for= adj. cl.qualifying "co."Not qualifying pronoun "I".
(2)isn't doing well=refering to not doing well=adj.cl. qualifying company, Not qualifying pronoun "I".
(3)isn't doing means a performance by our company shows not good results.=A poor performance by our company in account.

其實這句省略了一個 that，整句是：
The company (that) I work for isn't doing well this year.

I work for （藍色部分） 只是一個 relative clause，用來修飾 the company；而 isn't doing well this year （粉紅色部分） 才是主句。

因此，以 SVO 句法看：
S：The company (that) I work for
V：isn't doing
O：（沒有 object）

故此，這句的動詞實際上是 isn't doing，而不是 work。


那麼，為什麼這兒出現有兩個動詞也對呢？

首先，你要知道 relative clause 只是主句以外的東西，兩者是獨立的。

既然 work 只是 relative clause 的一部分，那麼它就並非主句的一部分，因此 work 的存在，並沒有使主句有多於一個動詞，主句的動詞依然是 isn't doing。


很多時候，relative clause 中的 that 都會被省略，所以每當遇到這類句子時，試下加個 that 便解得通了。



希望幫到你。




2013-08-18 01:01:51 補充：
只要「主句」沒有多於一個動詞的話，無論「一整句句子」有多少個動詞，都是合文法的

所以懂得分辨主句、知道省略了 that 字很重要

這也是為什麼一開頭便 highlight 了「主句」和 「relative clause」 出來

"I work for" 係一個Relative clause, 指明自己工作的那間公司.
真正的verb係"isn't doing" .





Relative clause = 關係子句

亦即以一句子句 (clause), 作為另一句完整句子 (主句) 的名詞 (noun) 的附加說明~

e.g.

The boy who lives next door is my cousin.
(主句係"The boy is my cousin.")
(子句係"who lives next door")


My blue ballpen, which I lost recently, was a gift from my mother.
(主句係"My blue ballpen was a gift from my mother.")
(子句係"which I lost recently,")

2013-08-18 01:07:55 補充：
Relative clause多數會用"Relative pronoun"連接主句和子句,relative pronoun 可以係who, whick, that, whom......

e.g.
The book which is on the desk is mine. (桌上的那本書是我的。)
[which] 係 relative pronoun


可能你會問 點解你的例子中冇Relative pronoun?
The company I work for isn't doing well this year

某些情況下,Relative pronoun係可以省略的.

2013-08-18 01:11:34 補充：
*relative pronoun 可以係who, which, that, whom......

2013-08-18 01:20:05 補充：
如果要加個relative pronoun ,可以係：
1) The company (which) I work for isn't doing well this year.

2) The company (that) I work for isn't doing well this year.