Verb Collocations with Technical Nouns
0 / 10 completed
1 / 10
A pipeline configuration comment reads: "This step _____ the integration test suite on every push to the main branch."
Which verb is the most natural collocation with "test suite"?
Which verb is the most natural collocation with "test suite"?
Runs is correct. The natural collocation is "run tests / run a test suite." "Execute" is also valid (more formal). "Make" and "do" do not collocate with "tests" in technical English — you do not "make tests" or "do the test suite." "Performs" is grammatically possible but is not the standard collocation in software development.
2 / 10
A code review comment reads: "This handler should _____ an exception when the input contains a null value."
Which verb is the standard technical collocation?
Which verb is the standard technical collocation?
Throw is correct. In most programming languages, exceptions are "thrown." "Throw an exception" is the universal technical collocation. "Raise" is also correct (Python, Ruby use "raise" officially, but "throw" is widely understood). "Make" and "create" do not collocate with "exception" in the standard programming sense. "Send" is used for network requests, not exceptions.
3 / 10
A deployment runbook states: "Step 3: _____ the Docker container on the staging server."
Which verb most naturally collocates with "container" in a deployment context?
Which verb most naturally collocates with "container" in a deployment context?
Spin up is correct. "Spin up a container" is the standard phrasal verb collocation in container and cloud contexts. "Deploy" is used with applications, services, or code — not specifically containers. "Throw" collocates with exceptions. "Publish" collocates with Docker images to a registry, not with running containers.
4 / 10
A PR description reads: "The retry logic now correctly _____ the exception and logs it before attempting the next retry."
Which verb is correct?
Which verb is correct?
Catches is correct. "Catch an exception" (in a try-catch block) is the standard collocation for handling exceptions that have been thrown. "Raise" means to throw/generate an exception — the opposite action. "Make" and "create" do not collocate with exceptions in this context.
5 / 10
A release notes entry reads: "v4.1 _____ support for async job queues."
Which verb most naturally collocates with "support" in release notes?
Which verb most naturally collocates with "support" in release notes?
Ships is correct. "Ships X" is the standard release note collocation — "v4.1 ships support for Y" means "this version delivers/includes Y." "Deploys" is for infrastructure/service deployment, not feature announcement. "Triggers" collocates with events, builds, or workflows. "Runs" collocates with processes, tests, or scripts.
6 / 10
A CI/CD pipeline configuration comment reads: "On merge to main: _____ code to production after all checks pass."
Which verb is the most standard collocation in a deployment pipeline context?
Which verb is the most standard collocation in a deployment pipeline context?
Deploy is correct. "Deploy code to production" is the standard technical collocation for the act of releasing software to a live environment. "Push" collocates with commits to a repository ("push code to GitHub") — not to production environments in formal documentation. "Throw" collocates with exceptions. "Spin up" collocates with containers or infrastructure resources, not code deployment.
7 / 10
A function docstring reads: "This method _____ the scheduled backup job immediately, bypassing the cron schedule."
Which verb most naturally collocates with "job" in this context?
Which verb most naturally collocates with "job" in this context?
Triggers is correct. "Trigger a job" is the standard collocation for initiating a scheduled or event-driven task outside its normal schedule. "Invoke" is also correct (more formal/technical). "Throws" collocates with exceptions. "Ships" collocates with releases. "Deploys" collocates with code or services, not individual jobs.
8 / 10
Which verb-noun collocation is INCORRECT in a technical context?
Option D is incorrect. You do not "make a virtual machine" in technical English. The correct collocations are: "provision a VM", "spin up a VM", "create a VM", or "allocate a VM." "Makes" is a general-purpose verb that does not collocate naturally with technical resources. Options A ("triggers the pipeline"), B ("runs the job"), and C ("handles the exception") are all correct standard collocations.
9 / 10
A security log analysis script comment reads: "The function _____ all authentication tokens before the session expires."
Which verb most naturally collocates with "tokens" in a security context?
Which verb most naturally collocates with "tokens" in a security context?
Revokes is correct. "Revoke a token" is the standard security collocation for invalidating an authentication credential. Other correct collocations: "invalidate a token," "expire a token." "Runs" is for processes or tests. "Throws" is for exceptions. "Deploys" is for software or infrastructure.
10 / 10
A monitoring alert rule reads: "_____ a PagerDuty alert if the P99 latency _____ 500ms for more than 2 minutes."
Which pair of verbs completes the alert rule naturally?
Which pair of verbs completes the alert rule naturally?
Trigger / exceeds is correct. "Trigger an alert" is the standard collocation for activating a monitoring alarm. "Exceeds a threshold" is the standard collocation for describing a metric breaching a limit. "Make an alert" is not standard technical English. "Run an alert" collocates with tests, not alerts. "Deploy an alert" is wrong — deploy is for software, not alerts. "Becomes" is too vague for a metric threshold expression.