5 exercises — choosing the correct fixed verb for common DevOps and incident-management nouns.
Key patterns:
trigger a rollback / a build / an alert — not "make" or "do"
raise an incident / a ticket — standard ITSM collocation
pay down technical debt — finance metaphor, not "pay out"
patch a vulnerability — precise security-domain verb
0 / 11 completed
1 / 11
A release note says: "On-call engineers _____ a rollback after the error rate exceeded the alert threshold." Which verb correctly collocates with "a rollback"?
"Triggered a rollback" is the standard collocation in DevOps English for initiating an automated or manual reversal of a deployment. "Made" and "did" are generic verbs that do not collocate naturally with technical nouns like "rollback"; native and professional usage strongly prefers trigger, initiate, or roll back (as a phrasal verb) instead. Related collocations: "trigger a build", "trigger an alert".
2 / 11
Choose the sentence with the correct verb-noun collocation for reporting a production issue:
"Raise an incident" (or "raise a ticket", "raise an alert") is the fixed collocation used across incident management and ITSM terminology. Native speakers do not say "make an incident" or "write an incident" in this context, even though those verbs are grammatically valid elsewhere. Collocations like this must be learned as fixed pairs rather than derived from general grammar rules.
3 / 11
A sprint retrospective note reads: "We need to _____ technical debt before the next feature push." Which verb correctly collocates with "technical debt"?
"Pay down technical debt" is a widely used collocation borrowed metaphorically from finance (as in "pay down a loan"), reflecting the idea that debt accumulates interest and must be reduced incrementally. "Pay out" implies a one-time disbursement, which does not match the ongoing nature of debt reduction. "Clean up" is understandable but is not the conventional collocation used in engineering culture; "wash off" does not collocate with "debt" at all.
4 / 11
Which sentence uses the correct verb-noun pairing to describe automated testing in a CI pipeline?
"Run a test suite" (or "run tests") is the standard collocation for executing automated tests. In technical English, run collocates naturally with processes, scripts, jobs, and tests, whereas generic verbs like do, make, and give either sound unnatural or carry the wrong meaning (e.g., "make tests" implies writing them, not executing them).
5 / 11
A security report states: "The team _____ the vulnerability within four hours of disclosure." Which verb best collocates with "vulnerability" in the sense of resolving it?
"Patch a vulnerability" is the precise, domain-specific collocation used in security English, referring to applying a targeted software update that closes the security gap. "Fixed" is acceptable in general contexts but is less precise in security reporting; "solved" and "ended" do not collocate naturally with "vulnerability" at all, since a vulnerability is not a puzzle to be solved or an event to be ended — it is a weakness that is patched, mitigated, or remediated.
6 / 11
Sarah, the DevOps engineer, was reviewing Ben's pull request for the new authentication service. Ben had added a comment: 'I've debugged the API endpoint and resolved the issue.' Which verb best collocates with 'resolved' in this context?
'Resolved' in this scenario implies a direct solution to a problem. 'Addressed' correctly conveys the action of dealing with an issue, aligning with debugging and fixing code. 'Implemented' suggests deployment, while 'introduced' signifies adding something new – neither fits the context of correcting a bug. The phrase debugged further strengthens the need for a corrective verb.
7 / 11
Sarah, the DevOps engineer, was reviewing Ben's pull request for the new authentication service. Ben had added a comment: 'I've debugged the API endpoint and resolved the issue.' Which verb best collocates with 'resolved' in this context?
'Resolved' in this scenario implies a direct solution to a problem. 'Addressed' correctly conveys the action of dealing with an issue, aligning with debugging and fixing code. 'Implemented' suggests deployment, while 'introduced' signifies adding something new – neither fits the context of correcting a bug. The phrase debugged further strengthens the need for a corrective verb.
8 / 11
release.sh is running and reports: 'Deployment failed – unable to connect to the database server.' Which verb best describes the action required in this situation?
'Investigate' is the correct collocation here because it implies a thorough examination to find the reason for the database connection failure. 'Monitor' focuses on ongoing observation; 'escalate' suggests an urgent problem requiring higher authority, and 'diagnose' relates more directly to medical terminology than IT troubleshooting. This aligns with standard DevOps practices.
9 / 11
In a standup update, Emily reported: 'We _integrated_ the new monitoring tools into our existing infrastructure.' What does 'integrated' mean in this scenario?
'Integrated' signifies combining or merging the monitoring tools with the existing infrastructure. This is a standard DevOps practice to ensure seamless operation and data collection. 'Combined' accurately describes this process of making them work together – while the other options present incorrect interpretations of the verb's meaning.
10 / 11
A DevOps engineer is writing an update to the team's Slack channel regarding a recent incident. The message reads: 'The service experienced intermittent downtime due to high CPU usage.' Which verb best collocates with 'downtime' in this context?
'Experience' is the most appropriate collocation for describing downtime in this scenario. It accurately conveys that the service was unavailable during certain times. 'Trigger,' 'escalate,' and 'diagnose' all represent different actions taken during an incident.
11 / 11
A DevOps engineer is writing a Jira ticket describing an issue. The ticket reads: 'The API endpoint is returning 500 errors intermittently.' Which verb best collocates with 'returning' in this context?
'Returning' in this context means 'providing' or 'generating'. 'Intermittent' describes the *nature* of the error, while the other options relate to the stability of the API. The phrase 'returning 500 errors' accurately reflects that the endpoint is actively producing those specific errors.
What will I practise in "Verb-Noun Collocations in DevOps English — IT English Grammar Exercise"?
Practice fixed verb-noun collocations for incident reports, release notes, and CI/CD documentation: trigger a rollback, raise an incident, pay down technical
How many exercises are in this module?
This module has 11 multiple-choice exercises, each with instant feedback and a full explanation of the correct answer.
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Articles explain grammar rules in prose; this exercise tests and reinforces those rules through active recall with immediate feedback — the two work best together.
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Every exercise is written by the CoderSlingo team, drawing on real workplace English used in IT roles, then reviewed for accuracy and clarity.