Technical Prepositional Phrases in IT Communication
5 exercises — use the correct preposition in fixed IT phrases that appear daily in engineering communication.
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The feature is currently ___ and will not be part of this sprint.
"Out of scope" is the fixed technical phrase meaning a task or feature is not included in the current work unit. "Off scope" is not standard in IT English. "Beyond the scope" is used in formal written English ("beyond the scope of this document") but is not the standard spoken IT idiom. "Out of scale" is not a real IT phrase. Learning fixed prepositional phrases as chunks — rather than constructing them from rules — is the most efficient approach.
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We encrypt all data both ___ and ___ transit to comply with GDPR.
The correct fixed phrases are "at rest" (data stored on disk or in databases) and "in transit" (data moving over a network). These are standard security and compliance terms used in encryption documentation, security policies, and compliance frameworks. "In rest" and "on rest" are incorrect. "In transit" (not "during transit" or "on transit") is the standard. These phrases appear verbatim in GDPR compliance documentation, AWS security whitepapers, and ISO 27001 controls.
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The legacy authentication service is ___ — please do not make changes to the infrastructure.
"Under maintenance" is the standard phrase for a system in an active maintenance window. The preposition "under" collocates with conditions and states of being managed: "under review," "under construction," "under investigation," "under load." "In maintenance" is sometimes heard informally but "under maintenance" is the established technical standard. "On maintenance" and "at maintenance" are not standard phrases in professional IT English.
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This approach works in a single-region deployment but breaks ___ when requests exceed 10,000 per second.
"At scale" means when a system is operating under high volume or large-scale conditions. It is one of the most common phrases in distributed systems discussions: "this works at scale," "fails at scale," "designed to operate at scale." "Under load" is a related phrase (meaning under heavy traffic) but "at scale" is the correct choice here when referring to scale as the operating condition. "In scale" and "on scale" are not standard IT phrases.
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The database migration task is ___ the critical path, so any delay will push back the release date.
"On the critical path" is the standard project management phrase meaning a task whose delay directly delays the project deadline. Tasks "on the critical path" have zero float or slack time. "In the critical path" is sometimes heard informally but "on the critical path" is the standard. Similarly: "on the roadmap," "on the backlog," "on call," "on duty." The preposition "on" collocates with planned paths and assigned positions in project management vocabulary.
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Code Review Comment: "The API response is returning 400 with a JSON payload indicating 'Invalid Input'. This suggests the client-side validation isn't properly configured. It's currently ___ to the calling service."
This scenario tests understanding of prepositions describing the state of an API response. 'Transparent' implies immediate action; however, the error message *is* providing detail. 'Complex' suggests a deeper technical issue than is warranted by the information. 'Unclear' doesn't address the specific problem presented – the validation itself.
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PR Description: "The changes to the database schema are ___ documented. Please review the migration script carefully before merging."
This assesses understanding of prepositions indicating a deficiency. 'Thoroughly outlined' is positive; 'poorly documented' directly addresses the problem highlighted in the description. 'Fully supported' and 'extensively reviewed' are irrelevant to the immediate concern about documentation quality.
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Code Review Comment: "The API response is returning 400 with a JSON payload indicating 'Invalid Input'. This suggests the client-side validation isn't properly configured. It's currently ___ to the calling service."
This scenario tests understanding of prepositions describing the state of an API response. 'Transparent' implies immediate action; however, the error message *is* providing detail. 'Complex' suggests a deeper technical issue than is warranted by the information. 'Unclear' doesn't address the specific problem presented – the validation itself.
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PR Description: "The changes to the database schema are ___ documented. Please review the migration script carefully before merging."
This assesses understanding of prepositions indicating a deficiency. 'Thoroughly outlined' is positive; 'poorly documented' directly addresses the problem highlighted in the description. 'Fully supported' and 'extensively reviewed' are irrelevant to the immediate concern about documentation quality.
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Code Review Comment: "The API response is returning 400 with a JSON payload indicating 'Invalid Input'. This suggests the client-side validation isn't properly configured. It's currently ___ to the calling service."
This scenario tests understanding of prepositions describing the state of an API response. 'Transparent' implies immediate action; however, the error message *is* providing detail. 'Complex' suggests a deeper technical issue than is warranted by the information. 'Unclear' doesn't address the specific problem presented – the validation itself.
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PR Description: "The changes to the database schema are ___ documented. Please review the migration script carefully before merging."
This assesses understanding of prepositions indicating a deficiency. 'Thoroughly outlined' is positive; 'poorly documented' directly addresses the problem highlighted in the description. 'Fully supported' and 'extensively reviewed' are irrelevant to the immediate concern about documentation quality.
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During a Slack conversation with the DevOps team about a recent outage, Sarah says: 'The system's behavior is currently dependent on the external API for authentication, and we need to address this.' What does Sarah *really* mean in this context?
Sarah uses 'dependent' here to indicate a strong reliance. It doesn't simply mean 'relies'; it signifies that changes to the API directly affect the system's operation and security. The incorrect options either overstate the dependency or suggest an undesirable design choice. This highlights how technical prepositions describe complex interrelationships.
What will I practise in "Technical Prepositions in IT English — Grammar Exercises"?
Practise technical prepositional phrases in IT English — at scale, in production, under maintenance, out of scope. 5 advanced exercises.
How many exercises are in this module?
This module has 12 multiple-choice exercises, each with instant feedback and a full explanation of the correct answer.
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You'll immediately see which answer was correct, plus a full explanation covering the grammar rule and reasoning behind it — mistakes are where most of the learning happens.
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Where can I find more Grammar exercises?
Browse the full Grammar hub for related drills, or check the "Next up" link below to continue with a connected topic.
How is this different from reading an article on the same topic?
Articles explain grammar rules in prose; this exercise tests and reinforces those rules through active recall with immediate feedback — the two work best together.
Who writes these exercises?
Every exercise is written by the CoderSlingo team, drawing on real workplace English used in IT roles, then reviewed for accuracy and clarity.