face(verb)

[Maybo]

I'm a bit confused about the usage of "face". I found a sample sentence from a dictionary:

3
b :to be a problem for (someone):to require the attention of (someone)
-There were many important questions facing them.


It seems that we can say "They faced many important questions".
What's the difference in meaning between the sample sentence and my sentence?

 

[GoesStation]

One focuses on the questions, the other on the people.

 

[Maybo]

When I read this "They faced many important questions", "the questions" were the problems/troubles needed to be dealt with.
So when I read "There were many important questions facing them", it sounds like "them" were the problems/troubles. However, from the context, I know "questions" were the problems/troubles. Does "facing them" here mean "going towards them"?

 

[jutfrank]

They faced some difficult questions.

The sense here is essentially that the questions are positioned in front of them, seen as obstacles to be overcome. The metaphor is that when we want to deal with a challenge, we naturally turn our heads/faces to look straight at the problem.

There were some difficult questions facing them.

I find this very slightly odd because it doesn't accord with the metaphor in quite the same way. However, the metaphor is essentially the same—the questions are positioned in front of them, needing to be dealt with. If object A faces object B, then object B also faces object A. The difference is only one of perspective, and as GoesStation has said, of focus.

Just to clarify: in the examples you mention, both they and them refer to people, not questions. I hope that's clear now from my explanation above.