# Grammar/writing question regarding hyphens

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-writing-question-regarding-hyphens/314604>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 28, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-writing-question-regarding-hyphens/314604 "2005-07-28T16:38:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-writing-question-regarding-hyphens/314604/1 "2005-07-28T16:38:58Z")

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Let’s say I have the following phrase:

“A \<software term\> may be either push-based or pull-based.”

What is the grammatically correct way to change it to:

“A \<term\> may be either push or pull-based.”

Is it correct as I have written it, or should it be something like “push- or pull-based”?

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-writing-question-regarding-hyphens/314604/2 "2005-07-28T16:42:53Z")

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> [@Absolute](#):
>
> Let’s say I have the following phrase:
> 
> “A \<software term\> may be either push-based or pull-based.”
> 
> What is the grammatically correct way to change it to:
> 
> “A \<term\> may be either push or pull-based.”
> 
> Is it correct as I have written it, or should it be something like “push- or pull-based”?

You can say either:

A \<software term\> may be either push-based or pull-based.

or

A \<software term\> may be either push- or pull-based.

Both are correct.

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**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-writing-question-regarding-hyphens/314604/3 "2005-07-28T16:43:20Z")

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> [@Absolute](#):
>
> …or should it be something like “push- or pull-based”?

I’m always partial to the quoted one.

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**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-writing-question-regarding-hyphens/314604/4 "2005-07-28T16:56:08Z")

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As am I.

As an aside, if you neglect to add the hyphen after “push” (as in **Absolute** ’s second example), you’re essentially saying that the thing is either “push” or it is “pull-based.” What a “push” software item would be is up for debate.