noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a chest complaint/problem (=something wrong with your chest and causing you pain)
▪ Older people often suffer from chest complaints.
a discipline problem (=a problem with the students' behaviour in a school)
▪ Successful schools have fewer discipline problems.
a disposal problem
▪ All cities have a waste disposal problem.
a drug problem (=the problem of being addicted to drugs)
▪ His daughter has a drug problem.
a fundamental problem
▪ Charity could not solve the fundamental problem of unemployment.
a health problem
▪ He missed a lot of time at work through health problems.
a hearing problem/difficulty/impairment
▪ a special telephone for people with hearing problems
a pollution problem
▪ Environmentalists fear that the new factories will lead to severe pollution problems.
a potential problem
▪ There is a potential problem with the new equipment.
a problem child (=very difficult to deal with)
▪ Problem children may need to be removed from the classroom.
a serious problem
▪ Vandalism is a serious problem in the area.
a weight problem (=a tendency to be too fat)
▪ I've always had a weight problem.
added difficulty/problem etc
▪ Our yard is only small, and has the added disadvantage of facing north.
▪ It may not be necessary to go to the added expense of updating your anti-virus software.
address a problem/question/issue etc
▪ Our products address the needs of real users.
age-old problem
▪ the age-old problem of sexual discrimination
alcohol problems (=people who drink too much)
▪ people with alcohol problems
alleviate the problem/situation/suffering etc
▪ a new medicine to alleviate the symptoms of flu
an image problem
▪ Politicians have an image problem as far as many young people are concerned.
an underlying problem
▪ Little is being done to correct the system's underlying problems.
an urgent problem
▪ It’s an urgent problem, and needs tackling straight away.
anticipate problems/difficulties
▪ We don’t anticipate any problems.
attendant problems/difficulties/dangers etc
▪ nuclear power, with all its attendant risks
behaviour problems
▪ She teaches children with behaviour problems.
big problem
▪ AIDS remains a big problem in many parts of the world.
cash flow problems
▪ The builder is unable to pay due to cash flow problems.
cause a problem
▪ The heavy rain has been causing serious problems on the roads.
compound a problem/difficulty etc
▪ Helmut’s problems were compounded by his lack of concentration.
confront...problems
▪ We try to help people confront their problems.
cracked...problem
▪ I think we’ve cracked the problem of the computer crashing all the time.
crux of the problem
▪ The crux of the problem lay in the lack of equipment.
deal with a problem
▪ Both countries are having to deal with the problem of violence in urban areas.
dental disease/problems/decay etc
discuss the problem
▪ I suggested going out for a drink to discuss the problem.
domestic problems (=problems in the home and with family relationships)
▪ I didn’t want to listen to any more of his domestic problems.
economic problems
▪ The country’s continuing economic problems could lead to recession.
eliminate a need/possibility/risk/problem etc
▪ The credit card eliminates the need for cash or cheques.
▪ There is no solution that will totally eliminate the possibility of theft.
emotional problems
▪ Ann suffered from depression and a number of other emotional problems.
encounter problems/difficulties
▪ They encountered serious problems when two members of the expedition were injured.
environmental problems
▪ Acid rain is one of the major environmental problems associated with burning coal.
ethical issues/questions/problems
▪ The use of animals in scientific tests raises difficult ethical questions.
evade the problem
▪ You’re simply trying to evade the problem.
experience problems/difficulties
▪ Many old people will experience problems as the result of retirement.
eyesight problems
▪ Her eyesight problems ruled out a job as a pilot.
face a problem
▪ She told me about some of the problems she was facing.
financial difficulties/problems/crisis
get round...problem (=solve)
▪ strategies to get round the problem
hamstring injury/problem/strain etc
heart trouble/problems
▪ You should not take this medication if you have heart problems.
herein/therein lies the problem/dilemma etc
▪ And herein lies the key to their achievements.
hit a snag/problems/a bad patch etc
▪ My father hit a bad patch, he had to sell the house.
immediate problem
▪ Let’s try and solve the most immediate problem.
injury problemsBrE:
▪ He suffered injury problems throughout his career as a footballer.
long-standing problem
▪ the long-standing problem of keeping costs down
math problems (=questions that are related to math)
▪ a set of simple math problems
morale problems (=when the morale of a group is low)
▪ A lack of information can cause morale problems.
perennial problem
▪ Lack of resources has been a perennial problem since the beginning.
personal problems
▪ Counselors can give assistance to students with personal problems.
pose a problem
▪ A flood of refugees could pose a serious problem for neighbouring countries.
practical problems/difficulties
▪ The local Social Services Department may be able to help with practical problems.
present a problem
▪ These mountain roads present problems even to experienced drivers.
pressing problem/matter/need etc
▪ Poverty is a more pressing problem than pollution.
problem page
psychological problem
▪ Sleep disorders are a serious psychological problem.
resolve a problem/crisis/situation
▪ Action is being taken to resolve the problem.
run into trouble/problems/difficulties
▪ The business ran into financial difficulties almost immediately.
sb has an attitude problem (=someone is not helpful or pleasant to be with)
▪ Some of the male students have a real attitude problem.
severe problems/difficulties
▪ The clothing industry has experienced severe problems in recent years.
solve a problem
▪ He solved the problem by moving the aggressive fish to a separate tank.
sort out...problems
▪ She went to a psychiatrist to try to sort out her problems.
suffer a problem
▪ Research shows that children of alcoholic parents are more likely to suffer problems in adulthood.
tackle a problem/issue/question
▪ The government has failed to tackle the problem of youth crime.
the problem (=find out the cause of a problem)
▪ A competent mechanic should be able to get to the root of the problem.
the problem/answer etc lies with/in sth
▪ The difficulty lies in providing sufficient evidence.
trivial problem/matter/complaint etc
▪ We were punished for the most trivial offences.
turn the matter/problem/responsibility etc over to sb
▪ I’m turning the project over to you.
unforeseen problems/difficulties/delays
▪ unforeseen delays in supplying the equipment
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
big
▪ Power supply is a big problem today, since battery technology has not progressed at the same rate as other information technologies.
▪ But the biggest problem was the stealing.
▪ Trading Death A big problem Drugs are never cheap.
▪ Our biggest problem was finding somebody willing to move in.
▪ They can also cause big problems for coastal fisheries, aquaculture operations and the tourist industry.
▪ Since many exist on the margins of their environments, small changes may create big problems for them.
▪ The bigger problem for me at the time was the way the orchestra was playing.
▪ The biggest problem with liberalism is that you have to fly all the way to San Francisco to find it.
economic
▪ The governments in Tunis, Algiers and Rabat fear that new frustrations will inflame their countries' economic problems.
▪ They expressed concerns that decreased military spending can become an economic problem in regions that depend on the armed forces for jobs.
▪ He blamed what he called the painful kick-back of recent economic problems for the latest spate of job losses.
▪ Only an egomaniac would propose a Napoleonic construction effort as a plan for a city with fundamental social and economic problems.
▪ The Wilson government inherited serious economic problems in October 1964, but made matters worse by its own decisions.
▪ The widespread collapse into an enervated self can not be attributed solely to the economic and social problems of our day.
▪ The economic problems, the exhaustion brought by war, and divisions between the political parties all caused difficulties for de Gaulle.
▪ Despite the economic problems and some unrelated political problems of the 1960s, the country remained a relatively prosperous one.
emotional
▪ But she gave herself up to police and told them her real motive was to win attention for emotional problems.
▪ The sixth and oldest, a 9-year-old boy, currently is in specialized foster care because of emotional problems.
▪ But social service officials have warned that even if this latest rescue mission is successful the children could face long-term emotional problems.
▪ After all, there is so much talk about emotional problems and abnormality that many people wonder if they need help.
▪ They found that more than six out of 10 children with emotional and behavioural problems were regular smokers.
▪ Therapy based on these questions can be wonderful and effective for help with a wide variety of emotional or cognitive problems.
▪ It also provides a counselling service and a range of literature with advice on emotional as well as practical problems.
▪ The organization has a less productive worker and the employee gets to wrestle with a series of physical and emotional problems.
financial
▪ Ian Boddy, for Wennington, said she had serious financial and marriage problems.
▪ During 1995, the Amex lost 28 companies to competing exchanges and delisted another 38 companies for financial and other problems.
▪ And, of course, he always got some one else to pay for everything anyway, so it wasn't any financial problem.
▪ Q: When you took over the team in May 1994, the then-owners were going through serious financial problems.
▪ But more financial problems meant only a handful were ever built.
▪ Reportedly, EconoPage had financial problems from its inception in 1994.
▪ The gist of the auditors' criticism is that this is primarily a financial reporting problem rather than an auditing one.
▪ In fact, financial problems may not be uppermost in her mind.
immediate
▪ The immediate problem, however, lies in implementing such a system.
▪ I had a more immediate problem.
▪ The fellowship at Caius took care of my immediate employment problem.
▪ Water, the most obvious and important resource, was not an immediate problem.
▪ The immediate problem for parents is what to tell them.
▪ He seems to be suggesting the endowment as a quick solution to an immediate problem, but he knows better.
▪ This is not an immediate problem in the hectic process of establishing the great new structure.
▪ His own attention was increasingly diverted to the more immediate problems of holding down prices and wages.
main
▪ The main problem is coping with the aggression.
▪ We can now deal with the main problems that could arise in the new community care system.
▪ The main problem is how to be your own critic.
▪ Or they can decide that the main problem is that relative poverty got no better during the prosperous 1980s.
▪ The main problem with Cape Verde is that it hardly ever rains.
▪ The main problem was how to interest the media.
▪ This pinpointed the main problem ara - non-asbestos work resulting in damage to asbestos-containing insulation material.
▪ The main problem about drawing up a will is that it means accepting the inevitability of death.
major
▪ Although traditional remedial education is undergoing radical reform, major problems remain.
▪ This was spotty and not a major problem.
▪ Mr Kirwan said the three slip-ways at Redcar beach were the major problem.
▪ Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., has said the tactic is a major problem on college campuses.
▪ The only major problem at this year's final results from the traditional fine weather in southern California.
▪ Nor has he been sharing with all board members the monthly reports he receives outlining the major budget problems Pima County faces.
▪ More than 40 competitors blanked and iced rod rigs were a major problem.
▪ This causes major problems in growth and development.
mental
▪ Their attitude to people with mental health problems or drug problems are similarly positive.
▪ To what extent is work inhibition a consequence of mental health problems?
▪ I had never met anyone with mental problems.
▪ Jurors in the case of Dalton Prejean were unaware of his long-term mental problems when sentencing him to death.
▪ I have had two experiences in which the mental health problems of older people have been successfully treated by a homeopath.
▪ Russell Keys was, by all accounts, a clever, amusing man with manageable mental problems.
▪ Police said the 20-year-old had a history of mental problems.
▪ Surely we can do better for people with mental problems and their families?
only
▪ My only problem so far has been keeping track of who, exactly, in the Archives quotations is saying what.
▪ But it appears that pricing is not the only problem affecting investors in the Dumenil group.
▪ The only problem with Snotties is that they take casualties fairly quickly.
▪ The only problem was convincing them they couldn't follow up with a New Year's knees-up a week later.
▪ Carrie's only problem was the other woman who worked in the dining rooms.
▪ The only problem you're likely to encounter is jerkiness of movement as the nodes grow too far apart.
▪ In fact, the zips are really the only problem area.
particular
▪ Working in prisons, with the need for round-the-clock supervision poses particular problems for women who also carry traditional domestic responsibilities.
▪ Three particular problems call for comment, however.
▪ My particular problems were probably simply not noticed; so nobody talked about them.
▪ This particular problem is of no real mathematical interest.
▪ The student will learn more effectively through identifying the particular needs and problems of each patient.
▪ Every now and then nature conspires to rivet homeowners' attention on a particular maintenance problem.
▪ Sometimes we may be able to identify a particular stress or problem which may be affecting us in our inability to sleep.
▪ The relative merits of both approaches have to be considered when opting for a solution to a particular diagnostic problem.
personal
▪ The filming was bedevilled by her personal problems, her sleeping problems, her lateness on the set, her acting problems.
▪ Outspoken and energetic, Stynes now arranges counselling for workers with personal problems, especially drug and alcohol abuse.
▪ James Baker said that he had always believed that a professional should never admit to hurt or personal problems.
▪ They have personal problems because they do not have the cash flow.
▪ Furious host officials last night accused Charles and Diana of putting their personal problems before their sense of duty.
▪ Anybody on the venire have any personal problem with these two?
▪ It is difficult to understand how personal problems can be resolved by refusing to talk about them.
▪ The discussions in the group sessions were primarily devoted to living a life free of alcohol and coping with personal problems.
potential
▪ Another potential problem for Marlow is how the public reacts to the idea of Quorn.
▪ The evaluation should begin by considering the history and hospital course in light of the potential acid-base problems.
▪ The MoD told us the organisers were aware of potential problems when they moved to Wroughton three years ago.
▪ The Committee believes that these adequately address any potential problem which might arise with respect to this area.
▪ We did not find it feasible, however, because of potential ethical problems, to collect bile from such a patient group.
▪ Clinton does face a potential problem from the financing of his campaign last year.
▪ When surgery is planned there is time to correct existing problems and reduce the risk of potential problems.
▪ I sense a potential marketing problem here.
practical
▪ Many theoretical and practical problems remain to be studied and this research project will tackle some of them.
▪ Is there a serious practical problem that Congress needs to address?
▪ But county hall staff say there are practical problems which prevent them from laying speed monitoring cables.
▪ One practical problem with the drug is that it is relatively expensive compared with phenytoin or phenobarbital.
▪ This included some fruitful experiments at secondary level in applying scientific knowledge to practical problems.
▪ To me this is a practical problem.
▪ There are practical problems with the installation as well.
▪ There were all sorts of practical problems which Nigel Barnes, the drama teacher faced.
real
▪ It's in the middle where their real problems lie.
▪ Pardon us if we yawn, Chuck, but that hardly addresses the real problem.
▪ But neither the car nor the team was the real problem.
▪ They learned by facing real problems and real consequences.
▪ Identical spellings for words that sound the same are not a real problem.
▪ This real clinical problem presents a therapeutic dilemma.
▪ The for-profits and the government agencies have both been real problems for us.
serious
▪ These are serious problems, which need to be addressed carefully.
▪ As Hoffman indicated, Macintosh in its nascent form had some serious problems.
▪ Guaranteeing continuity in the casework of clients is a serious problem for a manager with a large team of volunteers.
▪ High levels of coliform bacteria may indicate more serious problems in a water supply, such as the infiltration of fecal material.
▪ However, there are still serious problems.
▪ Why, in the absence of almost any other serious problems, did he have such difficulty in completing schoolwork?
▪ As more and more land was planted with cash crops, the lack of pasture became a serious problem in many districts.
social
▪ However, unelected, time limited, hierarchical agencies have played an important role in central government initiatives to solve social problems.
▪ The misinterpretation of behavior as pathology also results quite often from the labeling of social problems as individual psychological problems.
▪ Amongst other things, the sociologist is interested in how and why some things come to be seen as social problems.
▪ Women, then, had more social problems, particularly connected with familial responsibilities.
▪ The aetiology of social problems and the function of social work.
▪ The social problem is the apparent occasion for the poem, and some people feel that it is an intrusion.
▪ One in three men and one in seven women who try to kill themselves also have physical and social alcohol-related problems.
▪ We acknowledge that the country has a number of social problems.
technical
▪ The manufacture of the books that fill the movable shelves was often fraught with technical problems.
▪ In short, given the existing state of backwardness, underdevelopment is not primarily a scientific, technical or organizational problem.
▪ This is a true mega-project which has faced gigantic technical problems.
▪ But then it describes technical problems with both and offers little further guidance.
▪ Design implies change and improvement, solving technical problems and meeting new needs.
▪ He had friends there and he saw many interesting technical problems still to be solved.
▪ In reality there can be practical and technical problems which can make it difficult and sometimes impossible.
▪ Earlier today, a minor technical problem occurred.
■ NOUN
area
▪ If you stoop or are round-shouldered these shoulder movements will help to rectify this problem area for you.
▪ Her advice begins with an inventory of belongings, surroundings, problem areas and priorities.
▪ You can also conduct profit forecasts, identify profitable work and problem areas.
▪ In this case, treat the write-up as yet another learning experience informing you of strong and problem areas.
▪ The identified problem areas for companies were lubrication, wear, condition monitoring, bearings, gears and seals.
▪ Once you start to think about underprepared students in terms of these overlapping problem areas, all sorts of solutions present themselves.
▪ It works by analysing your present financial position and identifying any problem areas or gaps.
▪ The writer should assume that the reviewer though probably a sophisticated person, is not very well informed in the problem area.
health
▪ It is free of charge and can help to detect early signs of health problems and prevent them developing.
▪ The men in our study who had the fewest worries about their relationships with their children also had the fewest health problems.
▪ Off the field there were health problems and tensions with teammates.
▪ The study predicts the biggest health problems of the next 25 years to be those chronic conditions which largely affect the elderly.
▪ He claims Southern Water failed in its duty to prevent health problems caused by piping sewage into the sea.
▪ A consensus has long existed to make health insurance portable and to assure some coverage for people with existing health problems.
▪ It will provide the best facilities in the area for people suffering from mental health problems.
▪ Surveillance of health problems may be brief and intermittent. 3.
■ VERB
address
▪ Recent reports by a number of organisations have urged companies to address this problem seriously.
▪ The Committee believes that these adequately address any potential problem which might arise with respect to this area.
▪ The new government is trying to address this problem.
▪ But despite all this evidence, most organizations have yet to address the problem in any comprehensive or organized way.
▪ Begin by addressing yourself to the problem.
▪ Carville, Dionne and Weisberg all address this problem as best they can.
▪ But in their prepared homilies the Pope and the Archbishop addressed quite different problems.
▪ How can he properly address the problems without hearing the coaches' side?
arise
▪ Fault Finding Here is a fault-finding guide to help locate any problems that might arise when producing boards with the ultra-violet technique.
▪ Supervisors took a back scat and would let the teams try to handle the problems as they arose.
▪ But once again microeconomic problems arise since there are two parties to the contract of employment.
▪ Human intervention is required again and again, and intervention is needed at the level where these problems are arising.
▪ It is at the margin the problem arises.
▪ The problems arise quickly, though, when the cast are, as so often, essentially stereotypes.
▪ The following case provides a very good illustration of the legal problems arising from allegations of fraud.
▪ However, problems arise when the author describes how to actually use the gear.
cause
▪ I thought Honved might cause them a few problems once they had equalised.
▪ But that could cause other environmental problems.
▪ The main disadvantage is that political or economic instability within the country may cause problems outside the control of the parent company.
▪ Sometimes doing that causes nasty structural problems, like a caved-in cake.
▪ It is mistake which causes problems.
▪ But the newfound speed has caused other problems.
▪ When pilots or mechanics went on strike they could cause devastating problems, but flight attendants were still seen as replaceable parts.
compound
▪ To compound the problem, drizzle and low cloud was firmly entrenched in the area.
▪ But this time the results have only compounded and exacerbated the problems of the Republican Party.
▪ What is more, the remedy advised is likely to compound the problem.
▪ But in this case, the director of field operations, abetted by other headquarters personnel, compounded the problem.
▪ Prisoners' confinement and lack of contact with the outside world compound their problems.
▪ You risk hugely compounding the problem by getting caught in half-truths.
▪ Land fragmentation, as a result of inheritance laws and social custom, compounds the widespread problem of small farm size.
▪ To compound the problem, a drop in battery power corrupted the software programme which controlled the radio itself.
create
▪ A grandparent who tries to counteract parents' own methods by being over-indulgent or strict will only create further problems.
▪ Since many exist on the margins of their environments, small changes may create big problems for them.
▪ It can create problems over the ownership and control of the business.
▪ What Kaufman was saying is that we had helped create the problem.
▪ However, Nuttall has shown that this creates considerable problems for the interpretation of results in relation to, for example, class size.
▪ But, like Buchanan, Sweeney creates problems as well as opportunities for his party.
▪ For instance, it can create a problem if the team moves.
deal
▪ Throughout the year, the education officer will deal with any student problems which arise and help to find teachers for colleges.
▪ Thus, a major managerial responsibility was dealing with the problem employee.
▪ We shall only succeed in dealing with the problems through a vast international cooperative effort.
▪ These procedural changes deal with specific problems discussed above in Chapters 1 and 2.
▪ Good proposal writing is a delicate balance of presenting your intentions in dealing with your research problem.
▪ Organisations dealing with problems like Julie's say the chances of getting the children back are slim.
▪ Some resource will also be needed to deal with technical problems and enquiries from sales and commercial departments.
discuss
▪ If there is a speech therapist treating the client with whom one can discuss the problem, that can be very helpful.
▪ Then we discuss some political problems including political business cycles.
▪ If we don't discuss these problems we won't get anywhere and nothing will be done.
▪ I replied that Bobbie was doing fine and that I wanted to discuss problems with two other patients.
▪ They are told about aids which can assist them and given time to discuss special problems.
▪ She discussed her problem with him.
▪ The tutorial provides the opportunity to develop themes or discuss problems usually on the basis of written work.
▪ As discussed earlier, the problem comes in defining the assets of a marital partnership.
encounter
▪ Gilligan's work encounters similar problems.
▪ If we define it as statistically likely, we encounter the problems discussed earlier with an infrequency model.
▪ When he did encounter problems, remedies were easily to hand.
▪ Surgeons who performed reconstructive surgery encountered many problems similar to those faced by their medical colleagues.
▪ However, the company is not sympathetic to climbing, and should you encounter access problems contact me immediately.
▪ The colonists encountered the problem with runaway slaves.
▪ That is, rather than correcting their errors, I model the strategies readers use when they encounter these problems.
experience
▪ The nursery tells it has experienced no problems at all, except that the composts are a bit more expensive.
▪ Frustrated customers who are experiencing the same problems have filed several class-action lawsuits.
▪ Again within each type of disability the majority of those who experience the problem reside in the community.
▪ Persians, with their pushed-in faces, can experience problems breathing.
▪ Humans experience few of these problems when reading.
▪ Ripken began to experience problems with his back in July.
▪ Having also personally experienced the problems at Southwark Offset, I realise how daunting the prospect of trying again must have been.
▪ It also has experienced some billing problems.
face
▪ Liz was asked to imagine how she would respond if she was faced with the same problems again.
▪ Sybase is not the only technology company facing problems.
▪ The physically handicapped youngster faces severe problems in finding employment.
▪ Clinton does face a potential problem from the financing of his campaign last year.
▪ Both countries will face severe problems increasing their oil output.
▪ Long-lived trees face a particular problem because their parasites have time to adapt to their genetic defenses-to evolve.
▪ I face the same problems as a structural engineer.
▪ Hughes was the second prominent researcher at Georgetown to face problems because of reproductive research.
fix
▪ It took me two days to fix all the problems with that coach.
▪ Lei Feng is under a truck fixing a mechanical problem.
▪ The problem-solving sessions began to generate ideas for fixing problems such as water leaks and glass breakage.
▪ It is designed to enable system administrators to identify and fix problems before they come to most users' attention.
▪ Navy officials say they are fixing the manning problems but expect the shortages of skilled sailors to continue until sometime in 1999.
▪ If they know everything about a job then they may well be able to fix the problems for you.
▪ Some also fear that efforts to fix the problem will just create more troublesome models.
overcome
▪ To overcome this problem many policy papers which examine population ageing produce a variety of projections using different fertility assumptions.
▪ The very struggle to overcome the new problems can have a salutary welding effect on the new church.
▪ But they insisted Charles and Diana were attempting to overcome their problems.
▪ Fortunately: If you write at least three times a week, you should overcome each problem in less than a month.
▪ She came to see me, and after two sessions, was able to overcome the problem.
▪ She has worked so hard to overcome her hip problem.
▪ However, this does not in itself overcome the language problems which have arisen during the period of isolation.
▪ One of the biggest steps toward overcoming a problem is identifying it.
pose
▪ Working in prisons, with the need for round-the-clock supervision poses particular problems for women who also carry traditional domestic responsibilities.
▪ And for many gay men, that posed a problem almost as threatening as the epidemic itself.
▪ It may pose many more problems than you had anticipated.
▪ Buchanan poses less of a problem for Dole.
▪ How to convey the battle scene posed a problem.
▪ And the fact that both doctors were insured by the same company must have posed a serious problem for the company.
▪ The point that capitalist planning is increasingly conducted on an international scale poses problems for the socialist project.
▪ The discrepancies between these different analyses pose a number of problems.
present
▪ Many other problems may be presented, for example problems related to preparing the patient for safe discharge to the community.
▪ For many countries where free speech is alien, the Internet presents interesting problems and policy issues.
▪ The preservation of information captured in machine-readable form undoubtedly presents a host of problems to traditional archives.
▪ Both relatively objective and relatively subjective criteria present other problems.
▪ Doors that swing inwards present the problem of curtain fabric interfering with the operation of the doors.
▪ The banking system and mail service can present problems for newcomers.
▪ This is a very straight forward part and shouldn't present any problems.
▪ This presents a major problem for women: the reduced number of available men compared to women over sixty-five years of age.
resolve
▪ Before he resolves a problem, he keeps an open mind on how that problem might be resolved.
▪ Clinton wants a bipartisan commission to resolve the problem.
▪ He resolved the problem by adopting the role of lookout, warning the men when strangers, particularly police, were approaching.
▪ The very stiffness of the penalty should resolve the problem.
▪ The separation also resolves the problem of remorse when we tax ourselves about an unphilosophical action we may have taken.
▪ Others come asking him to resolve a problem.
▪ He said suing the building society would only delay matters and make resolving the problem more costly.
▪ The moral way to resolve the problem is to keep people from entering rather than punishing their children once they are here.
solve
▪ We solved the problems for manufacturing, and we also found some cost savings that we could pass along to our customers.
▪ However, unelected, time limited, hierarchical agencies have played an important role in central government initiatives to solve social problems.
▪ We use our intellects not to solve practical problems but to outwit each other.
▪ Some of these experiments were designed to solve a specific medical problem.
▪ How would you try to solve the problem?
▪ What remains is to solve the problem of restoring the corners of the cube to their rightful positions.
▪ His interest was in solving the problem of how to make it.
tackle
▪ The first black adoption agency, New Black Families, began to tackle the problem in 1980.
▪ Spurred by the profit motive, the shops tackled problems with a vengeance.
▪ When you actually tackle the problem case it will not be as bad as you had thought.
▪ Part of the sport of tackling the longitude problem entailed ridiculing others in the competition.
▪ You can tackle the simpler problems yourself.
▪ In tackling these problems, we experimented.
▪ We will tackle this problem with vigour.
▪ And the best way to tackle that problem is not on the loch itself, but in the centre of town.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Houston, we have a problem
a chicken and egg situation/problem etc
▪ It's a chicken and egg situation really.
a thorny question/problem/issue etc
▪ In addition, sending encrypted data over international boundaries represents a thorny issue: it is still illegal in some countries.
▪ Melding the top managements also would be a thorny issue.
▪ None of these struck me as particularly penetrating answers to a thorny problem.
be up to your ears in work/debt/problems etc
fraught with problems/difficulties/danger etc
▪ Attractive as that proposition has seemed in recent years, the form in which it has been pursued is fraught with difficulties.
▪ For this whole business of killing, whether killing beasts or killing men, is supposed to be fraught with danger.
▪ He realized that what he was about to attempt was fraught with dangers, for Bernice and for himself.
▪ However, it is a move fraught with problems as our writers explain How long can it be taken as read?
▪ She had had a husband and lovers older than herself, and each affair had been fraught with problems.
▪ There are a number of tortured perspectives on how to get round this problem, but they are themselves fraught with problems.
▪ Thompson and Geir can agree, but their own deliverance was fraught with danger.
meet a problem/challenge
▪ Are both boys and girls shown developing independent lives, independently meeting challenges, and finding their own solutions?
▪ Capable of successfully and creatively meeting challenges. salary / benefits: Excellent salary and benefits package.
▪ Ideally, pre-marital counselling, supplemented before parenthood, would meet problems before they could arise.
▪ These patterns evolve over time, as an organization attempts to meet challenge after challenge in the best way it knows how.
no end of trouble/problems etc
▪ My doctor's a nice young man, takes no end of trouble.
▪ Neighbours say a new flats development in Sun Street, Darlington, has created no end of problems.
▪ They'd caused no end of problems for the nomes.
offload your worries/emotions/problems etc
▪ It would be nice to have been able to offload your worries on to some one or something like that.
sidestep a problem/issue/question
▪ But she sidesteps a question about her priorities in a time of limited funding.
store up trouble/problems etc
▪ Mahmud may have bought time for himself, but he stored up trouble for his successors.
technical problem/hitch
▪ At times it appears large numbers of these new or infrequent voters were confounded by technical problems in the ballot.
▪ Design implies change and improvement, solving technical problems and meeting new needs.
▪ He had also to tackle the technical problems of bringing two curriculum systems into one entity.
▪ However, some technical problems exist.
▪ In other words, it is to argue that the problem is a technical problem which admits of a technical solution.
▪ It is open to any interested individual and meets regularly to discuss operational and near-term technical problems of the Internet.
▪ Politics becomes an issue of solving the technical problems of advancing capitalism rather than the realization of practical goals.
▪ The principal technical problems which had to be resolved were breakage due to heavy-duty service and abuse.
the larger issues/question/problem/picture
▪ But the larger picture is systematically distorted by the military and political calculations concerning the strategic uses of information and disinformation.
▪ Here we are concerned with the larger problem of the relationship between men as a class and other animals as a class.
▪ It has come to have a bearing on the larger questions of civilized survival.
▪ Mission-driven budgets relieve legislators of micromanagement decisions, freeing them to focus on the larger problems they were elected to solve.
▪ She was blind to the larger picture that involves building and maintaining good relationships with both fellow-workers and superiors.
▪ That ignorance is at the root of geophysicists' struggle with the larger problem of how the whole earth works.
▪ Too much, and the larger picture might become apparent.
▪ You failed to connect the various elements together or to move through the detail to the larger issues of the painting.
the least of sb's worries/problems/troubles/concerns
▪ For not the least of Henry's problems was how to raise the money required for the accomplishment of such an undertaking.
▪ Greatly increased taxes and a major shift back to defence expenditure could be the least of our worries.
▪ Not the least of its problems was extreme alienation between labor and management.
▪ That was the least of her troubles.
▪ The death under somewhat dubious circumstances of a racehorse belonging to his son was frankly the least of his problems.
the nub of the problem/matter/argument etc
▪ Even so, some brain cells were still working, as I stared inwardly at the nub of the problem.
▪ It sounds perfectly reasonable, but you will perceive that here is the nub of the matter.
▪ This is the nub of the matter.
▪ This, however, was the nub of the problem.
the only thing/problem is ...
▪ But the only thing is they are really small.
▪ I did some um and the only problem is size.
▪ In fact the only problem is deciding where to start.
▪ It duplicates perfectly in production, so the only problem is making the first copy.
▪ Well, no problem with the casting, the only problem is remembering the plot.
underlying cause/principle/problem etc
vexed question/issue/problem etc
▪ A paradigm example of this is the vexed question of spatial visualisation.
▪ And there is another vexed question.
▪ I shall not turn to the vexed question of the national minimum wage.
▪ Potentially an even bigger bombshell is about to burst on the vexed question of pension rights.
▪ The vexed question has always been: Who should write the programs which control these machines?
▪ Then there is the vexed issue of paying for tax cuts.
▪ Until recently what was on the child's school record and whether parent or child could see it was a vexed question.
▪ Was the vexed question of extradition discussed at the Council?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Bill isn't sleeping well - I think he's having problems at school.
▪ Engineers were unable to find the source of the problem in the spacecraft's cooling system.
▪ Federal laws have almost no effect on the crime problem that concerns most people - crime on the streets.
▪ If you have any problems, give me a call.
▪ Our biggest problem is lack of money.
▪ Please call 5326 if you have any computer problems.
▪ Scientists still have not solved the problem of what to do with nuclear waste.
▪ She's had a lot of personal problems - her mother died when she was eight.
▪ Sue's had a lot of problems with her neighbours recently.
▪ Tannen retired early due to health problems.
▪ The problem of substance abuse in high school is widespread.
▪ The first section of the test will contain twenty algebra problems.
▪ The new traffic system is causing problems for everyone.
▪ There seems to be some kind of problem with the heaters.
▪ Whiteflies can be a serious problem that affects produce grown in California and other states.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ In spite of this we do need to make an effort to define the problem.
▪ The only problem is that this runs counter to trends in the labor market.
▪ This is a problem in making an ordered sequence with respect to time from different fragments or partial records.
▪ Three would involve complex skeletal and muscular problems tending to impede rather than improve mobility.
▪ We are taken to a place where characters have nice little problems and impressive muscle tone.
▪ We have our problems and our frustrations.
▪ We try to move at the parents pace and, where necessary, show them one problem at a time.
▪ Where motor vehicles are concerned, the problems are different.