Learn English – Do native speakers ever use the expression “problems crop up”

expressionsphrase-usage

I would like to ask you if the expression "problems crop up" is ever used by native speakers or if it's some kind of an archaism. Whilst being quite a nice expression, I have never heard it before.

Best Answer

I agree, it’s a nice expression. It’s fine to use in American English too. Like many phrasal verbs, crop up is not particularly formal – a Latinate synonym could be accumulate. Think of weeds sprouting up in a field that need to be pulled out periodically.

Rupe is right that not only problems crop up. Usually, however, the thing that crops up is negative. Below are some examples from different contexts.

“In many ways the faith-based initiatives are merely a continuation of the battles over religion and politics that crop up from time to time in American history.” (Rebecca Sager, Faith, Politics and Power: The politics of faith-based initiatives, pp. 48-9)

“Injuries crop up for No. 23 Texas” (headline – the team lost 2 out of 3 games due to a series of injuries to key players)

“More security issues crop up for UEFI” (headline for a post that begins: “About half the computers employing the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot sequence are vulnerable to rootkits because of firmware installation failure by manufacturers and an indeterminate number can be ‘bricked’ through the operating system, according to security research from the nonprofit organization Mitre.” Issues here is a synonym for problems.)

Finally, when crop up appears in headlines and the news story has something to do with farming or food, there’s often a pun involved.

Related Topic