: Re: How to tell where to place a parenthetical em dash phrase? Sometimes it's clear to me. But other times I get kind of confused. Example: After returning the materials back to their shelves,

The key is in what "as were the others" refers back to.

It's not just "the chairs." It's not even that "the chairs were upside-down." It's that "the other chairs" are in a specific state of being that you are matching: upside-down AND on the table.

After returning the materials back to their shelves, I turned the chair upside down on the table — as were the others — and followed the girl.

Also, when doing that kind of parenthetical, with a sentence fragment, make sure your grammar is parallel. "Were" is the verb "to be," and you don't have that earlier in your sentence. So:

After returning the materials back to their shelves, I turned the chair upside down on the table — like the others — and followed the girl.

In all honesty, I don't think this interrupter is important enough to merit M-dashes. I wouldn't even use commas.

After returning the materials back to their shelves, I turned the chair upside down on the table like the others and followed the girl.

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: Re: How to tell where to place a parenthetical em dash phrase? Sometimes it's clear to me. But other times I get kind of confused. Example: After returning the materials back to their shelves,

More posts by @Debbie451

: In narration, stay in one tense. "She had green eyes" is fine, because your entire story is in the past tense — the "present-past," if that makes sense. If she had green eyes as a

: "Literary criticism" and "editing feedback" are two entirely different beasts. Litcrit is about looking at an existing text and analyzing it. You look at the author's intent, you look at symbolism,

: Consequences. A strikes B. Even if B provoked A, A still gets arrested, processed, tried, convicted, and serves time. A gets grief from family and friends. A feels mixed anger, resentment,

: Is breaking the fourth wall to the point of nonexistence appropriate for a comedy book? After considering the style and setting for my first book, I've decided on writing a comedy treasure hunt

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