Process Description Language in Technical Documentation
5 intermediate exercises — choose the right passive construction to describe API request flows, data pipelines, event handling, and service communication in technical documentation.
Process description verb patterns — before & after
is processed by — ❌ "the payload processes the middleware" → ✅ "the payload is processed by the middleware"
is triggered by / triggers — ❌ "the event is triggered by the scheduler" (reversed) → ✅ "the event triggers the scheduler" (or: "the scheduler is triggered by the event")
is validated against — ❌ "validates against the schema" (active, wrong subject) → ✅ "input is validated against the schema"
is persisted to — ❌ "data persists the database" → ✅ "data is persisted to the database"
is propagated to — ❌ "changes propagate subscribers" → ✅ "changes are propagated to subscribers"
is resolved via — ❌ "hostnames resolve via DNS" (too informal) → ✅ "hostnames are resolved via the DNS resolver"
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
An API documentation page describes the request lifecycle: "When a client submits a checkout request, the order payload _____ the request validation middleware before it reaches the order service." Which passive construction correctly describes a process step?
Is processed by is the correct passive construction for describing what happens to the payload at this stage. In process documentation, the passive voice with a by-agent is used when the component doing the work (the middleware) is relevant and should be named. Structure: subject + is/are + past participle + by + agent. The full corrected sentence reads: "the order payload is processed by the request validation middleware before it reaches the order service." Why not the others: is processing through is not standard English ("process through" is not a conventional passive form); processes is active voice — it implies the payload does the processing, not the middleware; has processed is active perfect tense, same problem. In technical documentation, process descriptions almost always use the passive because the data or request is the topic, not the component handling it.
2 / 5
A system architecture document describes event handling: "A PaymentFailed event _____ the retry scheduler, which attempts the transaction up to three times with exponential backoff." Which construction correctly describes what happens when the event occurs?
In this sentence, the event is the cause and the retry scheduler is the effect — the event does the triggering. The active voice triggers is correct here because the event is the grammatical subject doing the action. This is a common pattern in architecture docs where events are described as active agents: "A UserCreated event triggers the welcome email service." / "The circuit breaker opens when five consecutive failures are recorded." The passive is appropriate when the focus is on what receives the action — e.g., "The retry scheduler is triggered by a PaymentFailed event." Option A reverses the cause-effect relationship (it says the event is triggered by the scheduler — wrong). Option B uses a progressive form that implies an ongoing action rather than a triggered process. Knowing when to use active vs. passive in process docs is a key IT writing skill.
3 / 5
API documentation for an authentication flow states: "The JWT token _____ the public key stored in the key management service before the request is forwarded to the backend." Which passive construction is correct?
Is validated against is the correct process description construction. The phrase validate against is a standard collocational pattern in technical English that means "to check something by comparing it with a reference": "The schema is validated against the OpenAPI specification." / "User input is validated against a whitelist of allowed characters." Structure: subject + is/are + validated against + [reference standard or key]. Why not the others: validates against (option A) is active voice — it would mean the token itself performs the validation, which is semantically wrong; is being validated to (option C) uses the wrong preposition ("to" doesn't collocate with "validate" in this sense) and the progressive form is unnecessary for a process step; has been validating (option D) is active perfect progressive — wrong subject and wrong tense for a process step. Common validate patterns in API docs: validated against, validated using, validated by, fails validation.
4 / 5
A data pipeline architecture document explains: "Once the ETL job completes, the aggregated metrics _____ the analytics database, where they become available to the reporting layer within 60 seconds." Which construction correctly describes the storage step?
Are persisted to is the correct construction. Persist is a standard technical verb meaning "to write data to long-term storage". In process documentation it is almost always used in the passive: "data is persisted to the database", "events are persisted to the event store", "the snapshot is persisted to S3". The preposition to is the standard collocate for this usage: "persisted to the database / to disk / to the cache / to the store". Why not the others: persist (option B) is active — it implies the metrics do the persisting, which is semantically wrong; are persisting in (option C) uses the progressive (implies an ongoing state rather than a process step) and the wrong preposition; is persisted into (option D) has a subject–verb agreement error ("metrics" is plural → "are", not "is"). Common data pipeline process verbs in the passive: extracted from, transformed using, loaded into, persisted to, published to, consumed by, replicated to, indexed in.
5 / 5
A microservices design document describes service communication: "After the notification service processes the event, the updated delivery status _____ all subscribed client applications via the WebSocket gateway." Which passive construction correctly describes the distribution step?
Is propagated to is the correct process description construction. Propagate (from Latin propagare, to spread) is a standard term in distributed systems for the spread or broadcasting of data, state changes, or events to multiple recipients. Structure: subject + is propagated to + [recipients] + via + [channel]. The full corrected sentence: "the updated delivery status is propagated to all subscribed client applications via the WebSocket gateway." Common uses: "Config changes are propagated to all nodes within 30 seconds." / "Schema migrations are propagated to read replicas automatically." / "Cache invalidations are propagated via the pub/sub channel." Why not the others: propagates (option B) is active voice with wrong collocate pattern ("propagates [object]" implies the status spreads the clients, not to them); is propagating for (option C) uses the progressive and a wrong preposition; is resolved via (option D) means "solved or answered through" — completely wrong semantic for broadcasting status to clients. Other distribution/communication process verbs: broadcast to, dispatched to, forwarded to, relayed to, delivered to, pushed to.