My book mentions the synthesis of aldehydes and ketones using alkyl ortho esters. It's called Bodroux-Chichibabin aldehyde synthesis.
Now, later, the book mentions this:
R- displaces EtO-, giving an acetal or ketal, which are unreactive with Grignard reagents, so a secondary alcohol is not formed.
Why do orthoesters react with grignard reagents, but acetals and ketals don't? They have essentially the same functional groups, just two instead of three.