Database Schema Review Language: English Collocations
Database schema changes carry significant risk — a poorly reviewed migration can cause downtime or data loss. This exercise covers the collocations DBAs, platform engineers, and developers use when writing migration scripts, reviewing schema changes, managing migrations with tools like Flyway, and obtaining sign-off.
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The DBA team asked all developers to ___ their schema changes before merging into the main branch.
Review schema changes is the standard database governance collocation — changes are 'reviewed' by a DBA or senior engineer before they are applied. 'Validate' implies automated checking; 'approve' is the outcome of review; 'check' is informal. 'Review' captures the structured examination by a knowledgeable reviewer.
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The platform team used Flyway to ___ database migrations in a controlled, repeatable way.
Manage database migrations is the natural tooling collocation — migration tools like Flyway and Liquibase are used to 'manage' schema changes over time. 'Apply' is used for individual migrations; 'run' and 'execute' are also common. 'Manage' captures the lifecycle aspect of version-controlled schema evolution.
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The developer needed to ___ a migration script to rename the legacy column without causing downtime.
Write a migration script is the standard database development collocation — scripts are 'written' by developers. 'Create' is also common; 'draft' implies a preliminary version; 'author' is formal but less idiomatic for code. 'Write' is the most natural and widely used verb for creating SQL migration files.
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Before applying the migration in production, the team validated it in staging to ___ any data loss.
Avoid data loss is the natural collocation — teams run migrations in staging specifically to 'avoid' data loss in production. 'Prevent' is also correct; 'eliminate' implies zero tolerance; 'mitigate' implies reducing risk rather than avoiding it entirely. 'Avoid' is the idiomatic verb when describing the purpose of a staging validation step.
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The data architect was asked to ___ the proposed index strategy before the quarterly schema review.
Sign off on the index strategy is the natural governance collocation — senior architects 'sign off on' technical decisions to formally approve them. 'Approve' is the formal equivalent; 'review' is the step before sign-off; 'check' is informal. 'Sign off on' implies personal accountability for the decision, which is the expected meaning in schema governance.