Grammar in Action -- Hyphens

Tara graciously covered the subjects of hyphenating compound modifiers here, and this week I came across a wonderful example. First my speaker used a compound modifier before the noun, which I hyphenated without hesitation.

I tried to do a two-year term and get out of it.

Then later he used a modifying phrase after the noun, thus not requiring the hyphen.

Like I said, I was trying to be in the office for the short term rather than the long term, but that didn't really happen.