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I've always had this problem phrasing this sentence.
what can I put in this gap?
'' when I was reading an article, I .... this new phrase/word which I don't know the meaning''
when I was reading a text,
- I faced this new phrase/word
- I came across this new phrase/word
- I ran into this phrase/word
or maybe there is a better way of asking that I'm not aware of.
The usual way of saying this is
When I was reading an article, I saw this phrase/word
which is a statement of fact and has no connotation for difficulty of understanding which would need to be added context.
your other alternatives "came across" and "ran into" work also
When I was reading an article, I came across this phrase.
When I was reading this article, I ran into this word.
"Ran into" would have the implied meaning of "difficulty in understanding".
I ran into this word which I didn't understand.
Using "faced" would not be correct eventhough you were "facing" the article.
Both "came across" and "ran into" are fine.
The idiom you might want in your first example is "came face-to-face with", but this is a metaphor usually applied to meeting a person, so using it for an object is figurative and not always appropriate.
While shopping at the market I came face-to-face with my old flame from high school, and I was so surprised I couldn't think of anything to say.
