diff --git a/R/engine.R b/R/engine.R
index 044e81f314..c9da2f3a42 100644
--- a/R/engine.R
+++ b/R/engine.R
@@ -492,7 +492,36 @@ is_sql_update_query = function(query) {
   query = gsub('^\\s*--.*\n', '', query)
   # remove multi-line comments
   if (grepl('^\\s*\\/\\*.*', query)) query = gsub('.*\\*\\/', '', query)
-  grepl('^\\s*(INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|CREATE|DROP).*', query, ignore.case = TRUE)
+  sql_update_keywords <- c(
+    # DDL
+    "CREATE",
+    "ALTER",
+    "DROP",
+    "GRANT",
+    "DENY",
+    "REVOKE",
+    "ANALYZE",
+    "AUDIT",
+    "COMMENT",
+    "RENAME",
+    "TRUNCATE",
+    # DML
+    "INSERT",
+    "UPDATE",
+    "DELETE",
+    "MERGE",
+    "CALL",
+    "EXPLAIN PLAN",
+    "LOCK",
+    "UNLOCK"
+  )
+  pattern <- paste0(
+    # comes out looking like "^\\s*(CREATE|ALTER|...).*"
+    "^\\s*(",
+    paste(sql_update_keywords, collapse = "|"),
+    ").*"
+  )
+  grepl(pattern, query, ignore.case = TRUE)
 }
 
 # sql engine
@@ -546,7 +575,10 @@ eng_sql = function(options) {
   query = interpolate_from_env(conn, sql)
   if (isFALSE(options$eval)) return(engine_output(options, query, ''))
 
-  if (is_sql_update_query(query)) {
+  is_update <- options$sql.is_update_query
+  if (is.null(is_update)) is_update <- is_sql_update_query(query)
+  if (!is.logical(is_update)) stop2("The 'sql.is_update_query' chunk option must be TRUE or FALSE")
+  if (is_update) {
     DBI::dbExecute(conn, query)
     data = NULL
   } else if (is.null(varname) && max.print > 0) {
diff --git a/tests/testit/test-sql.R b/tests/testit/test-sql.R
index b65c815fb6..2e938b10e8 100644
--- a/tests/testit/test-sql.R
+++ b/tests/testit/test-sql.R
@@ -32,3 +32,21 @@ assert(is_sql_update_query(c(
 assert(is_sql_update_query('update foo set a=1'))
 assert(is_sql_update_query('delete from foo'))
 assert(is_sql_update_query('insert into foo values(1)'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('alter table foo add column x (int);'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('merge into table foo from (select x, y from bar) as bar2 on foo.x = barr.x when matched then update set foo.y = bar.y;'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('grant select on foo to user1'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('deny select on foo to user1'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('revoke select on foo to user1'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('analyze table foo.bar compute statistics for all columns'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('audit select on hr.employees whenever successful'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query("comment on column foo.bar is 'hello world'"))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('rename table foo to bar;'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('truncate table foo'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query("call sysproc.admin_cmd('REORG TABLE foo')"))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('explain plan for select * from foo where bar > 0'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('lock table foo in exclusive mode nowait;'))
+assert(is_sql_update_query('unlock tables'))
+
+
+
+