Collocation Drill — 15 Items
Fill in the blank with the most natural English word. Each question tests a collocation that professional developers use daily — the goal is to sound fluent, not just grammatically correct.
Word bank covers:
1 Testing
Before opening a pull request, always your tests locally.
Run tests — "run" is the universal verb for executing tests. You run a test suite, a CI job, or a script.
• write tests = author/create them
• pass / fail a test = the outcome
• "do tests" and "make tests" are incorrect collocations in English.
• write tests = author/create them
• pass / fail a test = the outcome
• "do tests" and "make tests" are incorrect collocations in English.
2 DevOps
The deployment script will a new container on the staging server.
Spin up a container — the standard DevOps expression for starting/launching a new container or VM instance.
• spin up = start/launch (especially cloud resources)
• tear down = the opposite (remove/destroy)
• start is also used (e.g.
• spin up = start/launch (especially cloud resources)
• tear down = the opposite (remove/destroy)
• start is also used (e.g.
docker start), but in natural speech "spin up" is more common for cloud/container contexts. 3 Project Management
Please a ticket for this bug so it's tracked in Jira.
Raise a ticket — standard professional IT/British English collocation. Also: create a ticket, open a ticket, log a ticket.
• "Make a ticket" is informal and understood, but not professional
• "Build a ticket" and "produce a ticket" are incorrect
• "Make a ticket" is informal and understood, but not professional
• "Build a ticket" and "produce a ticket" are incorrect
4 Git
Once all reviewers have approved, you can the pull request.
Merge the pull request — to integrate the changes into the target branch. GitHub/GitLab buttons literally say "Merge pull request".
• open / raise / submit a PR = create it
• review a PR = read and comment
• approve a PR = give LGTM
• merge a PR = integrate it
• close a PR = abandon without merging
• open / raise / submit a PR = create it
• review a PR = read and comment
• approve a PR = give LGTM
• merge a PR = integrate it
• close a PR = abandon without merging
5 DevOps
Pushing to main will automatically the CI/CD pipeline.
Trigger a pipeline — the standard verb for causing a CI/CD pipeline to run.
• You can also run a pipeline, but "trigger" emphasises the cause-and-effect (the push triggers it)
• trigger is also used for: trigger a deployment, trigger an alert, trigger a webhook
• "Fire up" is informal; "activate" is rare in CI/CD contexts
• You can also run a pipeline, but "trigger" emphasises the cause-and-effect (the push triggers it)
• trigger is also used for: trigger a deployment, trigger an alert, trigger a webhook
• "Fire up" is informal; "activate" is rare in CI/CD contexts
6 Git
Before you can merge, you need to the merge conflict in your branch.
Resolve a merge conflict — the standard collocation. Merge conflicts must be resolved (the conflicting changes manually reconciled) before the merge can proceed.
• "Fix" is also used informally: "fix the conflict"
• "resolve" is preferred in formal writing, PR descriptions, and error messages
• Git itself uses this language: "Resolve all conflicts and then commit the result"
• "Fix" is also used informally: "fix the conflict"
• "resolve" is preferred in formal writing, PR descriptions, and error messages
• Git itself uses this language: "Resolve all conflicts and then commit the result"
7 DevOps
The new authentication feature has been approved — we'll it to production tonight.
Deploy to production — the technical term for releasing software to the live environment where real users access it.
• deploy to staging = test environment
• deploy to production = go live
• Related: ship (more informal, developer culture), release (with a version)
• "Upload" and "send" are too generic and not idiomatic here
• deploy to staging = test environment
• deploy to production = go live
• Related: ship (more informal, developer culture), release (with a version)
• "Upload" and "send" are too generic and not idiomatic here
8 Performance
The profiler helped us a memory leak in the user session handler.
Detect a memory leak — the natural collocation for identifying a memory leak.
• Full lifecycle: detect → investigate → fix / patch → verify (memory is freed)
• identify a memory leak is also correct
• monitor = ongoing observation (you monitor to detect, then you detect the leak)
• introduce a memory leak = accidentally create one (bugs do this)
• Full lifecycle: detect → investigate → fix / patch → verify (memory is freed)
• identify a memory leak is also correct
• monitor = ongoing observation (you monitor to detect, then you detect the leak)
• introduce a memory leak = accidentally create one (bugs do this)
9 Git
Before merging, please the three local commits into a single clean one.
Squash commits — to combine multiple commits into one, creating a cleaner history. This is commonly done before merging feature branches.
•
• GitHub offers "Squash and merge" as a PR merge strategy
• merge commits means something different: keeping all commits with a merge commit on top
• "Collapse" and "compress" are not standard Git vocabulary
•
git rebase -i HEAD~3 → interactive rebase to squash• GitHub offers "Squash and merge" as a PR merge strategy
• merge commits means something different: keeping all commits with a merge commit on top
• "Collapse" and "compress" are not standard Git vocabulary
10 Code Review
The senior developer will a code review on your PR this afternoon.
Conduct a code review — professional: conduct a review or do a review.
• In casual speech: "do a code review" or "review the PR" are also common
• conduct collocates with formal professional activities: conduct a review, conduct an audit, conduct an interview
• request a review = ask someone to review your code
• approve / request changes = the review outcomes
• In casual speech: "do a code review" or "review the PR" are also common
• conduct collocates with formal professional activities: conduct a review, conduct an audit, conduct an interview
• request a review = ask someone to review your code
• approve / request changes = the review outcomes
11 Testing
The team goal is to 80% test coverage on all new modules.
Achieve coverage — "achieve" is the most precise collocation for hitting a quality target.
• achieve coverage — meeting the target percentage
• maintain coverage — keeping coverage above the threshold over time
• increase / improve coverage — moving the number higher
• "Reach" is also acceptable: "reach 80% coverage"
• "Make coverage" and "get to coverage" are incorrect collocations
• achieve coverage — meeting the target percentage
• maintain coverage — keeping coverage above the threshold over time
• increase / improve coverage — moving the number higher
• "Reach" is also acceptable: "reach 80% coverage"
• "Make coverage" and "get to coverage" are incorrect collocations
12 Git
After making your commits, the branch to the remote repository.
Push the branch — the Git-specific verb for uploading your local commits to the remote repository.
•
• Counterpart: pull = download changes from remote to local
• fetch = download without merging
• "Upload" is technically what happens, but "push" is the Git convention
• "Ship" refers to deploying to production, not pushing to a remote repo
•
git push origin feature/my-branch• Counterpart: pull = download changes from remote to local
• fetch = download without merging
• "Upload" is technically what happens, but "push" is the Git convention
• "Ship" refers to deploying to production, not pushing to a remote repo
13 Security
The security team found a critical SQL injection vulnerability — we need to it immediately.
Patch a vulnerability — "patch" is the standard term in security contexts for fixing a vulnerability with a targeted, minimal code change.
• patch = targeted fix (especially for security): "apply the patch", "the vendor released a patch"
• fix = general term for any bug/issue: "fix the bug"
• remediate = formal security language: "remediate the vulnerability"
• disclose a vulnerability = publicly announce it (before or after patching)
• exploit a vulnerability = use it to attack (attackers do this)
• patch = targeted fix (especially for security): "apply the patch", "the vendor released a patch"
• fix = general term for any bug/issue: "fix the bug"
• remediate = formal security language: "remediate the vulnerability"
• disclose a vulnerability = publicly announce it (before or after patching)
• exploit a vulnerability = use it to attack (attackers do this)
14 DevOps
The IaC scripts will a new test environment in under 5 minutes.
Provision an environment — the DevOps / cloud infrastructure term for creating and configuring a new environment (VMs, networking, storage, services).
• provision = allocate and configure resources (the full setup process)
• spin up = informal synonymfor provisioning quickly
• tear down / deprovision = remove the environment
• "Create" is correct but generic; "provision" is the precise cloud/infra term
• IaC tools (Terraform, Pulumi, CloudFormation) provision infrastructure
• provision = allocate and configure resources (the full setup process)
• spin up = informal synonymfor provisioning quickly
• tear down / deprovision = remove the environment
• "Create" is correct but generic; "provision" is the precise cloud/infra term
• IaC tools (Terraform, Pulumi, CloudFormation) provision infrastructure
15 DevOps
The last deployment broke the payments service — we need to it right away.
Roll back a deployment — to return to the previously working version after a bad release.
• roll back = the general deployment term (as a verb: "roll back", as a noun: "a rollback")
• revert = git-specific:
• Both "roll back" and "revert" are used in practice: "Let's roll back the deployment" / "Let's revert to the previous version"
• An automatic rollback happens when a health check fails after deployment
• "Undo" is too casual for professional technical writing
• roll back = the general deployment term (as a verb: "roll back", as a noun: "a rollback")
• revert = git-specific:
git revert creates a new commit that undoes a previous one. Also used informally for deployments.• Both "roll back" and "revert" are used in practice: "Let's roll back the deployment" / "Let's revert to the previous version"
• An automatic rollback happens when a health check fails after deployment
• "Undo" is too casual for professional technical writing