In this case, em dashes are doing something similar to a pair of commas, which can also denote side info but they do it more casually, and parentheses.
"and parentheses" what? And they are also like em dashes?
Edit: Thank you for the explanation folks. For whatever reason I found the use of commas to denote the aside very difficult to parse. I think maybe it's because of the first comma after "In this case."
Funny. Not a great sentence. By the time you reach the end, you've forgotten where you were. The aside, consisting of two sentences with a conjunction, is too long. I suspect the conjunction is the problem.
This sentence really clued me into my problem with the essay. As I read it, I found myself tripping over the sentences, especially this one. I had to reread it in order to understand what the author was saying.
Today's punctuation rules may have awkward beginnings, but the rules are standard, familiar, and subconsciously expected. This actually improves the speed at which I can read. The author's style had several places that were difficult for me because I have been mentally trained on one set of road signs and meanings.
> In this case, em dashes are doing something similar to a pair of commas (which can also denote side info but they do it more casually) and parentheses.
The commas after "pair of commas" are the parenthetical commas he is describing
"and parentheses" what? And they are also like em dashes?
Edit: Thank you for the explanation folks. For whatever reason I found the use of commas to denote the aside very difficult to parse. I think maybe it's because of the first comma after "In this case."