6 exercises — pick the verb that native English-speaking developers actually use. Wrong verb choices are one of the most common mistakes in non-native IT English.
What is a collocation?
A collocation is a pair of words that naturally go together. In IT English,
specific verbs are fixed to specific nouns — using the wrong verb sounds unnatural
even if the meaning is clear. Example: you run tests (not "launch"), you
revoke an API key (not "cancel"), you merge a branch (not "join").
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1 / 6
Choose the correct verb to complete the collocation:
"Our CI pipeline automatically _____ the tests on every pull request — no manual steps needed."
Run the tests is the standard collocation in software development. It's the most natural and universally used phrasing.
Test collocations — what to use: • run the tests ✅ — the universal default ("Run the test suite before pushing.") • execute the tests ✅ — more formal, common in documentation ("The script executes all unit tests.") • run the test suite ✅ — when referring to the full set of tests • run a test ✅ — for a single test • trigger the tests ✅ — when something causes the tests to start automatically ("The merge trigger runs all tests.")
Verbs that sound wrong with "tests": • "launch the tests" ❌ — "launch" works for apps, servers, products — not tests • "activate the tests" ❌ — "activate" is for features or accounts, not tests • "start the tests" ⚠️ — grammatically possible but sounds informal and non-technical
More test collocations to know: • pass a test / fail a test • write a test / add a test • skip a test — mark a test as skipped (`.skip()`) • fix a failing test • flaky test — one that passes and fails inconsistently
2 / 6
Choose the correct verb:
"After the incident, the team did a thorough post-mortem and _____ the root cause to a misconfigured load balancer."
Traced the root cause to is the standard collocation in incident investigation and post-mortem language.
Root cause collocations: • trace [the failure / the bug / the issue] to [something] ✅ — the most professional phrasing for incident analysis "We traced the outage to a DNS misconfiguration." ✅ • identify the root cause ✅ — more general: "We identified the root cause." • determine the root cause ✅ — formal, used in formal reports • pinpoint the root cause ✅ — emphasises precision ("After 4 hours, we pinpointed it to a race condition.")
Why the other options are wrong: • "found the cause to" ❌ — you "find a cause" but not "find it to". You "find that X was caused by Y." • "discovered the cause to" ❌ — same grammar issue • "pointed the cause to" ❌ — not a standard collocation
Full post-mortem collocations: • conduct a post-mortem / run a post-mortem • write up the post-mortem • assign action items • prevent a recurrence • mitigate the impact
3 / 6
Choose the correct verb:
"We noticed a memory leak in the service — it's _____ about 50MB every 10 minutes and we'll need to restart it before the peak traffic window."
Consuming memory is the most neutral and professional technical phrasing. "Eating memory" is acceptable informal speech but "consuming" is standard in technical writing.
Resource consumption collocations: • consume memory / CPU / resources ✅ — the standard technical term "The container is consuming 4GB of memory at baseline." • use memory / resources ✅ — simpler, also correct • allocate memory — when a process requests memory from the OS • leak memory — when a process holds memory it should have released "The process is leaking memory — it never frees the allocated buffers." • exhaust resources — when no more is available: "The pod exhausted its memory limit and crashed."
Informal phrases (acceptable in speech): • "eating memory" — understood by everyone but not for written reports • "hogging resources" — informal: "That query is hogging the database connection pool."
More system resource collocations: • peg the CPU / max out the CPU — 100% CPU usage • saturate the network — fill the network bandwidth • hit the limit — reach a configured threshold • exceed the threshold — go beyond a configured limit
4 / 6
Choose the correct verb:
"The API key was accidentally pushed to GitHub. You need to _____ it immediately and generate a new one."
Revoke is the standard security term for invalidating API keys, tokens, certificates, and access credentials. This is a fixed technical collocation — other verbs are not used in security contexts.
Credential and access collocations: • revoke an API key / token / certificate / access ✅ — the standard term for invalidating credentials • rotate a secret / key / password — replace it with a new one as a security practice "We rotate all API keys every 90 days." • invalidate a session / token — make a session or JWT no longer valid • expire a token — let a token reach its end of life • generate a key / token — create a new credential
Why others are wrong in this context: • "delete it" — deleting may mean removing from a database, but doesn't stop existing sessions using it • "cancel it" — used for subscriptions and orders, not credentials • "remove it" — too vague; removing from a UI is not the same as revoking server-side
Security incident vocabulary: • rotate the secret — replace the leaked credential with a new one • audit the access logs — check who used the leaked key • assess the blast radius — determine what was exposed • remediate the vulnerability — fix the security issue
5 / 6
Choose the correct collocation:
"The refactor is done and the tests are green, but before we merge, let's _____ a peer review to make sure the API contracts haven't changed."
Request a peer review is the most natural collocation for the described action — you are initiating the review process by asking a colleague.
Code review process collocations: • request a review ✅ — the action in GitHub/GitLab: "I've requested a review from @backend-team." • leave a review ✅ — write code comments: "She left a detailed review with suggestions." • approve a PR ✅ — formally sign off on changes • request changes ✅ — ask the author to revise before approving • do a code review ✅ — informal, conversational: "Can you do a quick review?" • conduct a code review ✅ — formal written usage
Why other options are weaker: • "do a peer review" — correct in isolation, but "request" is better because you're asking someone else to do it, not doing it yourself • "proceed with a peer review" — awkward; "proceed with" works for phases or processes, not initiating a request • "organise a peer review" — sounds like scheduling a meeting, not a code review
Full PR lifecycle vocabulary: "Open a PR → request a review → reviewer leaves comments → author addresses feedback → reviewer approves → merge to main."
6 / 6
Choose the correct verb:
"We're planning to _____ the legacy monolith into microservices over the next two quarters."
Decompose the monolith is the established technical term in software architecture. "Decompose" is used specifically when breaking a large system into smaller, independent components.
Architecture migration collocations: • decompose a monolith ✅ — the standard architecture term: "We're decomposing the monolith into domain-bounded services." • extract a service ✅ — move a bounded domain from the monolith: "We've extracted the billing service." • strangle the monolith ✅ — referring to the Strangler Fig pattern: gradually replace parts of the monolith • migrate to microservices ✅ — the overall migration strategy
Why others are weaker: • "split the monolith" — understood but informal; not the architectural term • "break apart the monolith" — too informal for technical docs • "cut the monolith" — means "create" in some IT contexts ("cut a release"), not split
Architectural terms you should know: • decouple — reduce dependencies between components • extract — remove a module and make it standalone • refactor — restructure code without changing behavior • migrate — move from one system/infrastructure to another • deprecate — mark as old, to be replaced or removed